Plymouth 1-1 Cardiff: Muhamed Tijani earns point for Pilgrims
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Plymouth Argyle and Cardiff City at Home Park on Saturday; Muhamed Tijani earns a comeback point for the Pilgrims after Dimitrios Goutas was sent off for the Bluebirds.
Saturday 22 February 2025 16:17, UK
Plymouth substitute Muhamed Tijani scored a 67th-minute equaliser as Argyle rescued a much-needed point from a 1-1 Championship draw at home to relegation-rivals Cardiff.
The Bluebirds swept into a 14th-minute lead through Yousef Salech but they were reduced to 10 men - eight minutes after the break - when Dimitrios Goutas was sent off, before Tijani came off the bench to earn a share of the spoils.
City dominated the game from the off. Argyle goalkeeper Conor Hazard did his best to keep Cardiff at bay and saved brilliantly from Aaron Ramsey's 13th-minute free-kick from just outside the box on the left.
But Argyle failed to clear the ball and back came Cardiff through winger Will Alves, whose cross from the right was bundled in at the far post by Salech.
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The same combination would have put City 1-0 up after just three minutes if it was not for Northern Ireland stopper Hazard.
Alves' crossed from the right and Salech's far-post header produced a spectacular diving save by Hazard, which bounced off the head of central defender Nikola Katic on the goal line.
After a goalmouth scramble, Katic and Hazard managed to clear the danger.
Cardiff continued to press until the hosts' first clear effort in the 24th minute.
Makeshift striker Mustapha Bundu crossed from wide on the left into skipper Adam Randell, who controlled the bouncing ball before letting fly on the half volley with a shot that whistled just past the post.
Two minutes later, Tymoteusz Puchacz sent a curling 20-yard free-kick wide of the post, with City goalkeeper Jak Alnwick still untroubled.
Ramsey sent in another free-kick from the left - just before the half-hour mark - which sailed over the crossbar from a similar position that led to the opener.
Argyle had a let off in the 32nd minute when Rubin Colwill missed a golden opportunity to put Cardiff 2-0 up, volleying over the crossbar from close range as Silvert Mannsverk's drive flew into the box.
Plymouth boss Miron Muslic, who was still without injured in-form Scottish striker Ryan Hardie (back) - introduced Bali Mumba into the attack as a second-half replacement for Callum Wright.
Mumba had the first meaningful shot of the second period, firing wide from 20 yards after latching on to a Puchacz pass.
Goutas was sent off after 53 minutes for fouling Mumba on the edge of the box as he homed in on goal, with only the keeper to beat.
Randell's grasscutter free-kick flew inches wide, while - on the hour - Mumba saw his powerful header on the run from Bundu's cross crash back off the bar, with Alnwick beaten.
In the 67th minute, Tijani converted from close range. The Argyle substitute beat his marker to Bundu's header across the face of goal from Maksym Talovierov's lofted pass into the area as the spoils were shared.
The managers
Plymouth's Miron Muslic:
"We have gained another place in the table so we will take the positive from this. I have mixed emotions and feelings because I simply think we threw away the first 45 minutes and in our situation, we cannot throw away four-and-a-half seconds.
"The first 45 minutes was very negative but how we came out of the locker room for the second half was very positive.
"We had the energy we wanted to have from minute one. We had this immediately and suddenly you can put pressure on the opponents and suddenly you can create goalscoring opportunities.
"It was very important for us to get this energy that (substitute) Bali (Mumba) gave us. Bali was just on it from the first whistle. His first action was a good shot on goal, his second produced a red card for Cardiff.
"It was just the momentum for us to stay on it. The next stage for us was we knew we had to take advantage of this red card.
"Muhamed gave us exactly just the boost we needed but then I am just a little bit disappointed because we left the script a little bit.
"We had the red card, we had the goal, when we have that advantage, we must stick to the plan but we didn't do that."
Cardiff's Omer Riza:
"It was a frustrating game. Some things you can't account for in games. Everything that can happen in a game probably happened.
"So we are happy to come away with a point at the end after playing with 10 men for 50 minutes. I felt we had the control of the game we were looking for from the start.
"We are disappointed we weren't able to keep 11 men on the pitch and win the game but coming away with a point would be fair.
"We probably need to finish some of the chances we created and it is something we need to do better. But I still feel we came in at half-time in good spirits and we knew we could do more of the same and put the chances away in the second half.
"But we needed a second goal and the red card came against the run of play and put us on the back foot."
