HULL CITY 2
Windass 3, Marney 48

ARGYLE 3
Norris 15, Fallon 45, Ebanks-Blake 82

by Rick Cowdery at the KC Stadium

BEHIND inside two minutes, ahead by half-time, pegged back three minutes afterwards, Argyle finally emerged from Hull with a hard-fought-for victory in a gripping opening Coca-Cola Championship game when substitute Sylvan Ebanks-Blake netted a late winner at the KC Stadium.

The Pilgrims were rocked barely 120 seconds into the new campaign when Dean Windass fired Hull ahead, but regrouped and ended the first half ahead thanks to sumptuous goals from David Norris, in the 15th minute, and Rory Fallon, on the cusp of half-time.

Both scorers had much to thank everGreen forward Barry Hayles to thank for a small, but crucial, part in the build-up to each goal.

However, in a match liberally laced with some interesting officiating from referee Graham Laws and his assistants, a controversial penalty award in the opening minutes of the second half allowed Dean Marney to level for Hull.

Eight minutes from the end, Ebanks-Blake linked well with fellow replacement Nick Chadwick for a goal which typifies the Pilgrims' never-say-die attitude under Ian Holloway, who made some tough tactical calls before announcing his line-up.

Ollie had gone into the game with the same 11 that started the previous week's friendly demolition (if that is not a contradiction in terms) again Bristol Rovers.

Fallon's two goals in the 7-3 victory ensured he started ahead of Ebanks-Blake, who had terrorised the Tigers when the two teams met on the final day of last season, and fit-again Nick Chadwick, who has been in prolific form during pre-season.

Otherwise, the Pilgrims' initial XI, 4-4-2 stylie, was identical to that which had ended the 2006-07 season at the same venue where the 2007-08 began, with Romain Larrieu and Gary Sawyer winning short-head finishes to pip, respectively, Luke McCormick and Lee Hodges to starting berths.

Hull manager Phil Brown kept faith in his preferred 4-3-3 system, with new signing from Colchester Garcia and veteran Nick Barmby flanking fellow old boy Windass up front.

The former Bristol City player Bryan Hughes featured on the left side of a midfield held together by captain Ian Ashbee.

The hope was still lingering in the air and the strains of Ready to Go had barely gone before Argyle found themselves a goal down.

Sawyer and Marcel Seip lost out in a right-wing aerial battle with Garcia, and the ball dropped perfectly into the dead zone between the back four and Larrieu, allowing to Barmby to nip into the space.

His shot hit the post, but the ageing Windass belied his advancing years to react quickest of anyone and shoot across Larrieu, the ball reaching the back of the net via the post in front of a disbelieving Green Army.

The lead lasted about 12 minutes during which Hull's most notable contribution to proceedings was to explore different ways of fouling Ákos Buzsáky.

If the Tigers were worried about Ákos, they maybe forgot about Norris. There seemed little danger when Barry Hayles' hold-up play allowed him to knock the ball back to Norris, but the Pilgrims' Duracell bunny latched on to it, held off his marker and slid a low shot past Boaz Myhill from the edge of the penalty area.

The Chuck of two years ago - or maybe even last season - arguably would not have finished the job, but a noticeable effect of Ollie's coaching regime has been to instill confidence and increase physical presence in his players and the goal owed not a little to both qualities.

With that riposte, Argyle took control of the game and it was not long before their disciplined pressing in all parts brought out the frustration in (a) the crowd, who jeered their own players' back passes, (b) Barmby, who was yellow carded after clattering into Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, and (c) Windass, who should have been at least cautioned after elbowing Seip to the ground and unleashing a volley of abuse at the Dutchman.

It needed an excellent double save from Larrieu to preserve parity after Hull made more capital down the right.

The first stop, from marauding right-back Sam Ricketts' cross-shot, was notable enough, but it merely popped the Welsh international defender's attempt into the path of Marney, central to goal, unmarked, four yards out. Somehow, astonishingly, Le Keeper got enough of himself up off the ground and between shot and goal to deflect the ball.

If one of Ollie's big personnel decisions had paid dividends at the defensive end, the other two cashed in a few minutes later when Haylesy cushion-headed Sawyer's throw-in back to the Pilgrims' left-back.

His low, whipped-in cross to the near post, was just about text-book and read to perfection by Fallon, who dived ahead of a slightly hesitant Danny Coles to thump the ball past Myhill.

Referee Laws' half-time whistle was met with jeers from the home faithful and the feeling was that, as long as Argyle could hold their hosts at bay for 15 minutes of the second period, the match was there for the taking.

That thinking reckoned without Laws. His award of a penalty barely two minutes after the restart after a coming together between Hughes and Péter Halmosi that was so insignificant that the linesman who had a clear view of it declined to raise his flag was generous in the extreme.

Insult was added to injury when Larrieu, whose record at saving spot-kicks is little short of hopeless, kept out Windass's unconvincing effort, only to see Marney snaffle up the loose ball.

Laws' reluctance to tangle with Windass reached its nadir a few moments later when the Hull number nine smacked Doumbe in the back of the head with two hands and was merely yellow-carded. The linesman, who was clearly itching to have his say on the incident, was not consulted.

Then Seip and Windass clashed on the touchline. The situation clearly demanded a caution for each player, but none was forthcoming, presumably because that would have meant the end of the match for Windass.

Ollie withdrew Hayles and sent on Ebanks-Blake for the last 15 minutes, and Chadwick for Fallon five minutes later, hoping that pace would unlock two centre-backs who had been biffed around by the Hayles-Fallon combination.

The two combined to perfection with nine minutes left, Chadwick got his copper top on to a long ball forward, straight into the path of Sylv, who took aim and rifled a deliberate low shot past Myhill.

Hull huffed a little but Argyle's foundations looked strong enough and Halmosi so nearly iced the cake with a shot that scudded wide of Myhill's post.

Hull City (4-3-3): 1 Boaz Myhill; 21 Sam Ricketts, 5 Danny Coles, 16 Damien Delaney, 3 Andy Dawson; 11 Bryan Hughes (24 David Livermore 64), 4 Ian Ashbee (capt), 22 Dean Marney; 14 Richard Garcia, 9 Dean Windass (17 Michael Bridges 79), 8 Nick Barmby (10 Stephen McPhee 72). Substitutes (not used): 6 Michael Turner, 12 Matt Duke (gk).

Booked: Barmby 34, Delaney 45, Windass 55.

Argyle (4-4-2): 1 Romain Larrieu; 22 Paul Connolly, 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, 19 Marcel Seip, 18 Gary Sawyer; 7 David Norris, 4 Lilian Nalis, 8 Ákos Buzsáky, 16 Péter Halmosi (17 Lee Hodges 90); 14 Rory Fallon (11 Nick Chadwick 79), 10 Barry Hayles (capt, 9 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake 75). Substitutes (not used): 5 Krisztian Timár, 23 Luke McCormick (gk).

Booked: Halmosi 48.

Referee: Graham Laws (Tyne and Wear).

Attendance: 16,663 (850 away est.).