ARGYLE 1
Lee 2

IPSWICH TOWN
Ebanks-Blake pen 85

SYLVAN Ebanks-Blake provided manager Ian Holloway with the tonic he needed after being taken to hospital two hours before the game following the onset of illness.

The Pilgrims left it late to reply to Alan Lee's second-minute header, but finally broke through a stern defensive display by Ipswich when Péter Halmosi went down under David Wright's 84th-minute challenge, allowing Ebanks-Blake to net his second goal of the season from the penalty spot.

It was all going rather better for the visitors than Argyle until the 72nd minute, when they had been reduced to ten men after the dismissal of defender Fabian Wilnis.

Wilnis was dismissed for an ugly two-footed dive on David Norris, which will hardly have persuaded Chuck that his future lies at Portman Road.

The Dutchman has been sent off only four times in his career and three of those times have been in matches against Argyle, including the corresponding Home Park fixture last season when today's referee, Kevin Friend, had also been in charge.

Before he was taken to hospital, Ollie had selected an eleven - a sixteen even - unchanged from the one that did the business on the opening day of the season at Hull.

Match-winner Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, therefore, had to again be content with a place on the bench, alongside one of the four in-form strikers jousting for the two positions up front.

The starting line-up contained only three players who had done midweek Carling Cup duty against Wycombe, whereas a majority of the Ipswich team had played for two hours in a 3-3 draw at Milton Keynes before losing on penalties.

Ipswich, who had an equally impressive start to the new campaign by beating Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 at Portman Road, made one change to their personnel and one to their system.

George O'Callaghan was promoted from the bench, with Sylvain Legwinski going the other way, to allow Town manager Jim Magilton to select a midfield diamond with Gary Roberts at the base and Pablo Couñago at the apex.

As they had done on Humberside, the Pilgrims soon found themselves behind to an Ipswich side that has acquired the better habit of scoring early.

Northern Ireland international Lee, who has recently signed a new two-year deal for the Blues, netted his third league goal of the season when he rose to meet Jon Walters' right-wing delivery. It looked, it has to be said, a little too easy.

Whether it was the absence of their voluble manager or not, the Pilgrims struggled to get a toehold on the game. They certainly struggled to deal with Couñago, who floated between midfield and defence with something approaching impunity.

A crowd so funereal you might have thought Ollie had died did little to help matters, either. The Green Army at home is not a patch on the Green Army on tour.

Romain Larrieu, who had been given no chance to save Lee's opener, prevented Ipswich from doubling their lead when he got down smartly to kick away Owen Garvan's shot after the Argyle defence had been turned inside out.

It took more than half an hour for the Pilgrims to fashion their first real sight of goal when Marcel Seip got too much of his head on Halmosi's inswinging free-kick from the right, sending the ball wide when a glance might have reaped reward.

However, the close thing woke up Argyle and the home crowd and, for the next few minutes, the sort of pressure was applied that had hitherto been sadly absent. As was width, with Halmosi and Paul Connolly looking especially threatening in that department.

Buzsáky began to take advantage of the space afforded him by Ipswich's system and came close to leveling just before the interval when he measured up a raking drive from the edge of the penalty area that had the beating of Ipswich goalkeeper Neil Alexander but went wide.

The half ended with Argyle in the ascendancy and Ipswich hanging on, a 180 degree turnabout from the first 25 minutes.

Magilton switched to a more solid 4-4-2 for the second 45 minutes but, although they conceded a lot of possession to the Pilgrims, never looked truly troubled.

Indeed, they might have got what surely would have been a match-winning goal when Couñago sprung the offside trap and toe-poked the ball around Larrieu on the edge of the penalty area. Fortunately, Mathias Kouo-Doumbe was quickest in the subsequent chase.

Argyle responded with a snap-shot from Fallon following the breakdown of Halmosi's right-wing free-kick that was straight at Alexander but at least they had finally called the former Cardiff man into meaningful action.

The game stuttered along, not least of all because of a bizarre incident involving Kouo-Doumbe when, first, he lay motionless, apparently badly hurt. Then, after suddenly bouncing back upright, he went back on to the field without being so bidden by the referee, and was told to leave.

The sending-off of Wilnis, who had been on the field for only four minutes, also disrupted the flow of the game. Ironically, he had been introduced only because Alex Bruce, who had already been booked, had looked in danger of picking up another yellow card.

Argyle's attempts to make the extra-man advantage pay saw Barry Hayles break through one on one with Alexander, only to see the Scotsman defy the national stereotype and stick out a leg to deny the Pilgrims' skipper.

Norris went close with a raking drive before Wright tugged down Halmosi to concede a soft penalty, leaving Ebanks-Blake to drive the subsequent spot-kick nervelessly low to Alexander's right.

Argyle (4-4-2): 1 Romain Larrieu; 2 Paul Connolly, 19 Marcel Seip, 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, 18 Gary Sawyer; 7 David Norris, 4 Lilian Nalis, 8 Ákos Buzsáky, 16 Péter Halmosi; 10 Barry Hayles (capt), 14 Rory Fallon (9 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake 61). Substitutes (not used): 23 Luke McCormick (gk), 5 Krisztián Timár, 11 Nick Chadwick, 17 Lee Hodges.

Booked:

Ipswich Town (4-4-2): 21 Neil Alexander; 20 David Wright, 5 Alex Bruce (2 Fabian Wilnis 70), 4 Jason De Vos (capt), 23 Dan Harding; 10 Tommy Miller, 7 Owen Garvan, 9 Pablo Couñago (22 Gary Roberts 77), 21 George O'Callaghan; 19 Jon Walters, 14 Alan Lee (18 Danny Haynes 83). Substitutes (not used): 1 Shane Supple (gk), 8 Sylvain Legwinski.

Sent off: Wilnis 72.

Booked: Couñago 23, Bruce 27, Miller 38, Alexander 80.

Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).

Attendance: 13,260 (840 away).

Match Sponsors - Keyline Builders Merchants