Plymouth Argyle vs Burnley. Sky Bet Championship.
Home ParkAttendance15,509.
Plymouth Argyle 0
Burnley 5
- Z Flemming (11th minute, 31st minute)
- J Laurent (34th minute, 45th minute)
- J Cullen (47th minute)
Plymouth Argyle 0-5 Burnley: Zian Flemming, Josh Laurent score two each in crushing Clarets win
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Plymouth Argyle and Burnley at Home Park on Wednesday night; two goals each from Zian Flemming and Josh Laurent, as well as one from Josh Cujllen, seal a thumping win for the Clarets
Wednesday 22 January 2025 23:24, UK
Burnley scored five goals in a stunning first-half performance as they hammered relegation-threatened Plymouth 5-0 at Home Park to continue their promotion charge in the Championship.
Zian Flemming and Josh Laurent bagged braces while Josh Cullen also struck in a remarkable opening 45 minutes to leave the Clarets, unbeaten in 15 games, two points behind second-placed Sheffield United.
Bottom-placed Argyle - under new management with Austrian Miron Muslic replacing Wayne Rooney as head coach two weeks ago - are six points from safety and without a win in 14 league games.
Lyle Foster had the first Clarets attempt, heading tamely towards goal from a Connor Roberts sixth-minute cross that was safely gathered by home keeper Dan Grimshaw.
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There was no warning of what was to come as the Clarets took the lead in their next meaningful attack, down the right, with skipper Josh Brownhill's waist-high cross brilliantly swept in on the volley by Flemming in the 11th minute.
Grimshaw had to save well at his near post with his feet to keep out Laurent's shot on the run as he easily broke through the Argyle backline.
The Argyle keeper had to have his wits about him clearing a Burnley free-kick as it was headed goalwards by Maxime Esteve in the 15th minute, causing a goalmouth scramble.
Diving Grimshaw was equal to Flemming's 27th minute right-footed shot from just outside the box as the striker went in search of a second goal.
A brilliant chest down and half-volley from Laurent, from Roberts' deep ball to the edge of the Argyle penalty area, was turned around the post by Grimshaw on the half hour.
Flemming soon had his second, after a quickly taken free-kick by Brownhill just inside the Argyle half.
Jaidon Anthony first-timed the ball across goal from the byline and there was Flemming on the edge of the six-yard box to crash the ball home after 31 minutes.
Argyle's woes continued three minutes later as Anthony again found space down the right and teed up Roberts, with his cutback cross finding Laurent who brilliantly first-timed the ball into the top corner giving Grimshaw no chance from 15 yards.
Laurent got his second and Burnley's fourth, heading home on the line as another Anthony cross was knocked back across the face of goal by Foster to the far post.
Burnley went 5-0 up in first-half stoppage time as Plymouth skipper Adam Randell's wayward back pass was pounced on by Foster and although Grimshaw did his best to retrieve the situation, the ball fell to Cullen who passed it into the net.
Substitute Mustapha Bundu had Argyle's first shot on target in the 46th minute, firing high and wide from an acute angle on the right.
Burnley keeper James Trafford was forced into his first save, punching away Randell's in-swinging free-kick in the 64th minute.
The managers
Plymouth's Miron Muslic:
"A tough one for sure. I take full responsibility for the performance and full responsibility for the result.
"Again very similar to QPR, we gave the first goal away on a silver plate to the opponent due to an individual mistake.
"OK, that's football and this can happen but then the reaction was the team gave up in this moment by not really showing the desire to fight until the end and (then) you go into half-time with a five goal difference.
"It takes a lot of courage to get out of the locker room and continue playing for the next 45 minutes and I demanded this courage. Not to change the result, because that was impossible, but to face this tough and harsh reality and this might help us for the next time, for the next couple of weeks.
"We have to be brave. We need to get another mentality, another energy inside.
"What happened today has happened a couple of times already this season.
"The most important thing is to support the squad we have here with reinforcements and then we can start the challenge again. Hopefully we have some positive news with this.
"As soon as we get reinforcements in we can start to be competitive again."
Burnley's Scott Parker:
"I thought we were superb tonight. The players were absolutely first class. We were just ruthless tonight.
"I thought first half, everything about us really was good. We came here with a real idea and gameplan and obviously we set it up as coaches and it's down to players to then execute it.
"We needed to come here with a mentality and a mindset about us. This is a tough place to come.
"I know people look at league tables and may see it very differently but (I see) new manager in, and an aggressive team.
"I played against this coach once in Belgium and had some struggles in the sense of how he sets up teams so knew the challenge here.
"But I was pleased tonight we have come away with a few goals as well.
"Every game is going to big for us from now on. We now go into a massive game (against Leeds)."