It's up there: Morgan Whittaker on another vital Plymouth Argyle goal

Argyle beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Home Park after Whittaker scored with a header in the closing seconds of added time

Morgan Whittaker admitted it was worth getting a yellow card after celebrating with the fans in one corner of Home Park after his dramatic late goal for Plymouth Argyle in their 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers.

Whittaker decided against a knee slide when he scored with a perfectly-placed header in the seventh minute of added time, and instead ran across to the crowd, who engulfed him. It also led to referee James Linington showing him a yellow card, which seemed very harsh given the incredible emotion of the moment.

The 23-year-old has scored many important goals in front of the Devonport End during his time at Argyle but this one, which clinched a third consecutive home Championship win, was a particularly memorable one.

"It has got to be up there," said Whittaker about where his goal ranked among all of the others. "We made it very hard work for ourselves but we know as a team we can be really good in these moments, as we have shown before, and we got the win that's the most important thing. It could have been me - anyone - we just needed to get the three points."

Most of Whittaker's 31 goals in 91 games for the Pilgrims have been left-foot finishes but this was a rare header, although as he pointed out it was certainly not the first time.

"Everyone says that but that's my fourth now so I will take it. I was just trying to stay in the middle of the box because we were having some good crosses before. I didn't want to get too out the way and hopefully it would fall for me.

"I saw it and thought I would throw my head at it and try to direct it towards and luckily it went in. I didn't know whether to slide but the pitch looked too dry so I just went straight into the fans. It's a celebration for everyone so it's nice to get the fans involved even though I did get booked. It was worth it."

Argyle led from the 16th minute after a first goal for the club from on-loan Burnley striker Michael Obafemi and should have wrapped the game up in the second half as they dominated and created some excellent chances, but failed to take them.

There was then incredible frustration for them when Blackburn equalised with a far post header from Joe Rankin-Costello in the 86th minute, especially as Ryan Hardie had his heels clipped when defending inside his own box before the goal was scored.

Argyle were furious they had not been awarded a free-kick, none more so than head coach Wayne Rooney who was sent-off by Linington and then watched the incredible late drama unfold from the players' tunnel.

Whittaker said: "I think it shows our character but I think the message still after the game was that we should never have been in this position. We could have easily been three, four-nil up.

"We were the better team for most of the game and that's the next step, I think, killing off teams when we have the chance, especially first half, and not letting it go until the 97th minute."

Late goals are not uncommon from Argyle. Joe Edwards netted in the third minute of added time when they ended Sunderland's 100 per cent start to the season by defeating them 3-2 at Home Park on September 14.

Then in their next home match against Luton Town, winger Ibrahim Cissoko also scored in the third extra minute at the end of the match to secure a 3-1 win.

Whittaker said: "I think we have done it that many times. Okay, they (Blackburn) scored late on but we thought we would still get a chance to win it at the death. We have it done countless times now so you have just got to keep going.

"Even when you are on the pitch you get a feeling that it's not done yet. I think we know we are going to get a chance. The players we can bring on as well, they make a massive difference with that. As a squad we are going in the right direction and we are getting better each game."

Beating Sunderland, Luton and now Blackburn in successive home games has enabled Argyle to move up to 14th position in the Championship with 11 points from nine games going into the second international break of the season.

Whittaker said: "It's just finishing off the good areas we are getting into. We are getting better each game with that and you can see on the pitch that we are competing with every team."

On the red card to Rooney, his former Derby County team-mate and boss, Whittaker added: "Someone as big as Rooney still shows the passion, no matter where he is and no matter if he's a manager or a player, so I think that's why everyone loves him because it means so much. He could just be sat at home chilling but he's not. He's involved and he wants to win every game."

Having come through a very challenging period of games, Argyle will return to action after the international break with three matches all against sides below them in the table.

Whittaker said: "We have to believe in ourselves and how we can play. The mentality we need going into these games is knowing we have got to be at our best. We have got to use that in the next block of games against the teams around us.

"We can't think 'They are around us so we can take it easy'. We have just got to have the same mentality and we will start picking up more points. It's nice to go off on a high with three points, get rested and get ready for the next block."

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