Argyle 1
Martin 16

Coventry 0

LEE Martin might not be Scott Sinclair, as Ian Holloway has constantly emphasized since his arrival at Home Park, but he has had a similar impact to the Chelsea youngster.

The skilful Manchester United midfielder won a game that was ultimately closer than it should have been as the Pilgrims extended their unbeaten home run.

He converted a clever cross from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who clearly enjoyed being in tandem with his former Old Trafford reserve team-mate, early in the first half to settle a game that Argyle should have put to bed by half-time.

They did not and needed to rely on some defensive grit for a third consecutive Coca-Cola Championship clean-sheet to see them home against the division's early pacesetters.

Argyle manager Ian Holloway's pre-match intentions could be easily deduced from a team-sheet that included winger Martin on the right side of midfield.

With Hungarian international Péter Halmosi on the left and David Norris in his favoured central role, the remaining midfield place was presumably a toss-up between Lilian Nalis and General Custer, with the Frenchman winning out.

Halmosi's fellow Magyar Ákos Buzsáky was relegated to the bench from the 11 that started the 0-0 draw at Blackpool a fortnight earlier, as was striker Nick Chadwick, with Barry Hayles regaining his place and the captaincy.

Iain Dowie's initial Coventry 11 appeared conservative by comparison, although it, too, showed two changes from the game at Wolves two weeks previously that ended in a 1-0 defeat made only slightly more palatable to Sky Blues' fans by the fact that Neill Collins' winning goal came so late a large proportion of home fans had already left Molineux.

Robbie Simpson was selected ahead of Dele Adebola to partner Maltese midget Michael Mifsud, who had played against Buzsáky and Halmosi during the previous week, with Northern Ireland international Michael Hughes replacing the injured Jay Tabb.

After some early sparring, Martin announced his arrival at Home Park when he rounded off an Argyle counter-attack with an insouciant piece of wrong-footing skill in taking Ebanks-Blake's pass before drilling a shot that City goalkeeper Andy Marshall had to be smart to get down to stop.

Minutes later, the Taunton-born flankman swapped positions with Ebanks-Blake as the two combined again, with Sylvan's temporary dalliance on the wing producing a cross curled exquisitely behind the full-back that makeshift centre-forward Martin stabbed home at the near post.

With the wind in the sails of the good ship Pilgrim, Coventry looked momentarily in danger of being swept aside, and they should have gone further behind when, having failed to clear a corner, they were at the mercy of Norris's free hit from 12 yards. Luckily for them, Chuck's radar was awry and the shot was high off-target.

After another period of relative calm, the home side resumed full steam ahead again, with Martin once more to the fore.

Two successive corners of his on the Argyle left caused problems for a defence that remained all at sea, with Norris going closer when he hooked a shot over his shoulder from the edge of the penalty area.

Martin went close to doubling the lead just before the interval when he linked up yet again with his former Manchester United and FC Antwerp buddy Ebanks-Blake for a volley that the ill-protected Marshall did extremely well to tip over the bar.

If Argyle could have made a good case for being two or three up after the first-half activities, Coventry could argue their renewed efforts early after the interval merited leveling the game as Argyle's previously composed defence buckled slightly under pressure.

One of the Hugheses fired into the side netting from the right, and Mifsud fired off a shot that went wide only, one suspects, because of a slight deflection it took from Timár's boot.

With the pressure reversed, Dowie stoked the boilers by sending on Dele Adebola to give his side the ultimate little and large strike pairing.

Argyle, though, realigned their defence and came close to extending their lead when Martin seized on Stephen Hughes' mistake to make ground on the left - to where he had switched with Halmosi - and centre to Ebanks-Blake, whose low shot was kept out by Marshall's outstretched boot.

A free-kick from Halmosi had Marshall scrambling at the foot of his left-hand post, while a long-range shot form the Hungarian was well wide of the opposite stick.

The result remained in the balance and Dowie sent on another big unit in the considerable shape of Kevin Kyle to supplement their Route One options.

Another Halmosi free-kick troubled Marshall before the veteran goalkeeper eventually clutched the ball to his chest, and the Ebanks-Blake-Martin partnership nearly produced a nerve-settling second when the former was close to setting up the latter.

Coventry came close to nicking a point in injury-time when Julian Gray's lofted free-kick into the land of the giants was missed by Luke McCormick, with the ball grazing Kyle's head and, subsequently, the foot of the post.

Argyle (4-4-2): 23 Luke McCormick; 2 Paul Connolly, 5 Krisztián Timár, 19 Marcel Seip, 17 Lee Hodges; 29 Lee Martin, 7 David Norris, 4 Lilian Nalis, 16 Péter Halmosi (18 Gary Sawyer 90); 9 Barry Hayles, 10 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. Substitutes (not used): 8 Ákos Buzsáky, 11 Nick Chadwick, 14 Rory Fallon, 22 Dan Gosling.

Booked: Timár 17, Norris 40, Connolly 71, Hayles 90.

Coventry (4-4-2): 33 Andy Marshall; 16 Isaac Osbourne, 5 Elliott Ward, 34 Ben Turner, 28 Gary Borrowdale (10 Kevin Kyle 78); 27 Michael Hughes, 8 Michael Doyle (capt), 6 Stephen Hughes, 25 Julian Gray; 17 Michael Mifsud; 24 Robbie Simpson (9 Dele Adebola 58). Substitutes (not used): 1 Dimi Konstantopoulos (gk), 2 Arjan De Zeeuw, 18 David McNamee.

Booked: S Hughes 7.

Referee: Keith Hill (Hertfordshire).

Attendance 11,576 (761 away).