Mayhem, hope and then a cruel twist in the red mist ... the story of Plymouth Argyle 3 Rotherham United 2

FIVE goals, a stupid red card, two nasty injuries, more goalmouth action that you can shake a stick at and a dramatic late winner.

Rotherham United’s 290-mile trek down had just about everything apart the familiar missing ingredient.

It’s 409 days and counting since they bagged a win on an opposition ground and the guy who was responsible for that, Bramall Lane hero Ben Wiles, is long gone.

The Millers’ travelling travails in the Championship are full of hard luck stories but this latest one was avoidable.

It is by no means certain they would have taken a point or three had Daniel Ayala stayed on the pitch for longer than 55 minutes but considering what unfolded in the second half when the ten remaining men made a mischief of themselves against an increasingly nervous Plymouth side, it has to be seen as an opportunity missed.

New head coach Leam Richardson, still getting his feet under the table, rightfully praised the effort each and every man put in but knew that Ayala’s moment of madness, raising his arm stop a through ball when he was already on a soft yellow card, was a thumping blow.

"Experienced players are still learning but Daniel got caught under the ball and he lost balance but with an experienced player you’d expect a better decision,” said the boss, with his diplomatic head on.

"We will certainly look at that and speak to Daniel moving forward and go from there."

After his dismissal against Swansea the previous week when the Spanish defender walked for two avoidable yellow cards, Ayala has a lot of making up to do to his team-mates.

Rotherham struggle to win football matches in the Championship with 11 men, never mind ten.

THE MATCH

The Millers deserved their early lead from Jamie Lindsay’s drilled, low finish and if Jordan Hugill had planted a free header on goal instead of a yard wide they might have been two goals to the good. It was the sort of chance Ronnie Moore used to bury for fun.

Plymouth are a decent side, very easy on the eye. Morgan Whittaker was a constant menace for them out wide and Finn Azaz, the Aston Villa loanee, a nimble-footed handful.

They also had to contend with the injury loss of striker Ryan Hardie and his replacement, Mustapha Bundu, within minutes of each other.

If the Millers had got to half time with their noses in front, the script might have changed but a whopping 13 minutes of stoppage time added on for the two injuries gave the hosts their window of opportunity.

The game was five minutes into that time added on when the otherwise lively Sam Nombe’s tug on a Plymouth shirt in the area gave Azaz the chance to restore parity from the spot and the mood changed.

Card-happy referee Gavin Ward did Rotherham no favours, booking five of their players, but no-one complained when he sent Ayala away for first use of the shower gel.

By then Azaz had stole a yard of space in the 18-yard box to make it 2-1 and the die-hards who’d made the long trip down to Home Park were thinking “here we go again”.

Maybe Richardson’s arrival will signal a renaissance for Tom Eaves.

It was a lovely moment when the big striker seized on fellow sub Sean Morrison’s knock-down to make it 2-2 on 77 minutes.

In case you’re wondering, it was his first goal for Rotherham since scoring in a 2-1 win at Hartlepool in his first spell 11 years ago.

Is that some sort of record for gaps in between goals for a club?

Argyle manager Steven Schumacher said afterwards that he wished the match hadn’t been as eventful.

The 16,000 in attendance wouldn’t agree with him.

In between the appearance of the stretchers for the two injured players, the red card, the goals and the comeback, Argyle hit the bar, both posts and kept Viktor Johansson honest.

The Swede had reached into the top drawer to produce a finger-tip save from an angled Whittaker drive in the first half and produced more heroics to deny Bali Mumba when the bullets were flying late on.

Sub Seb Revan and Cohen Bramall both popped up with blocks as the clocked ticked into added time but then came the final twist.

Plymouth, sticking with their patient passing game, worked their way into the danger area and Azaz’s lofted ball over the top was capped by a low finish by Whittaker low past the exposed Johansson.

It was the sort of sucker punch struggling teams seems to suffer and, now nine points from the Championship safety line, Rotherham United are certainly that.

THE NEW BOSS

Leam Richardson had been braver , starting with two up front in Nombe and Hugill and it’s that sort of bold thinking that needs to continue is this dry away run is to be ended.

Rotherham need to start being proactive, not reactive, in opposition grounds.

Sticking with the attacking theme, Richardson also threw on Georgie Kelly late on as Rotherham went for a winner instead of settling for a point.

How long before Kelly gets a proper run of starts and will the new head coach be the man to give them him?

"We need to try and win games. We need to try and pack a punch and to score goals and to do that you have to have people in the right places,” explained Richardson. "In terms of good chances created I thought we shaded it.

“We had really good patterns in possession and we were comfortable out of possession. The lads were very disciplined. We have only been here a matter of days but the work we put in showed out on the pitch.”

Whether Richardson can get a tune out of the current bunch time will soon tell.

An elusive away win would be a start but, with a trip to Leicester up next, the wait might have to go on a little longer.