Bristol City 1
Trundle pen 74

Argyle 2
Fallon 45, 60

AGAINST All the odds, Argyle emerged from a testing week to get their Premier league play-off train back on the rails and record a famous, hard-earned win against the Championship leaders.

Two goals from rejuvenated Rory Fallon put the Pilgrims ahead by the hour, before a controversial penalty from City substitute Lee Trundle allowed the home side back into the game.

In midweek, City goalkeeper Adriano Basso had saved a penalty to earn a 0-0 draw with Watford, dedicating the stop to God.

Fallon, too, is a devout Christian - and had embraced Basso warmly before the match - so I guess the big Kiwi's goals were proof that the scriptures are true - God loves us all equally.

Argyle manager Paul Sturrock had made a swingeing seven changes - one positional - to the team beaten 1-0 at Scunthorpe the previous Tuesday, bringing into the starting 11 the entire bench that did duty at Glanford Park.

Notably, Paul Wotton returned to the heart of the midfield and to wear the captain's armband, for the first time since December 2006, in place of Lilian Nalis, with Chris Clark moving in from the right wing to oust Jimmy Abdou and partner the skipper in the boiler-room.

Gary Teale resumed on the right wing of a midfield that thus showed three changes, while both the strikers at Scunthorpe - Steve MacLean and Jamie Mackie - were benched in favour of the Fallon-Jermaine Easter combination that last did duty against Portsmouth in the FA Cup.

The final two changes were in defence. Goalkeeper Rab Douglas, of course, made his Argyle debut and final appearance in the same afternoon - following in the footsteps of Chris Adamson and Danny Milosevic - while another custodian, Lee Hodges, was replaced at left-back by Gary Sawyer.

Ironically, with all the toing and froing, it went almost unnoticed that the one player that had been a doubtful starter, Russell Anderson, was passed fit to play in the last game of his one-month loan from Sunderland.

With Sturrock in a sweeping-clean mood, the 'unlucky' green shorts were also dropped, and, with Bristol City wearing white, replaced by a bespoke lemon which did not quite match the shirts and socks.

Bristol City manager Gary Johnson, a rival to Bobby Williamson for the Argyle vacancy following Luggy's first stint at Home Park, made three changes, one in each department.

Liam Fontaine came in for Hungarian international Tamás Vaskó in the centre of defence; Nick Carle replaced boss's son Lee Johnson, scorer of one of the most infamous goals against Argyle, in midfield; and Darren Byfield came in for David Noble to partner Dele Adebola up front.

The leaders started with the sort of confidence you would expect from a team in their position coming round the final bend - all flicks and tricks and lay-offs; not a star among them, but an impressive unit.

Amid the pressure of the opening ten minutes, Argyle barely sniffed the grass in the City half of the pitch, and might have been made to suffer had Byfield's shot matched the skilful way he made room for himself in the box.

Out of nothing, Argyle created two passable scoring opportunities. Teale, played free by Fallon, fired in a low cross which was too hard for Easter to divert goalwards, and then Péter Halmosi shot into the side-netting following more approach-work from Teale.

The home side responded with more flowing football, sending all Argyle's hands to the pump. City claimed that one of those hands, belonging to Seip, made illegal contact with the ball, but referee Tony Bates ignored their protests.

Having survived the blitz, Argyle emerged strongly. Halmosi forced Brazilian goalkeeper Adriano Basso into a scrambling save with a raking drive, and the Hungarian then teed up a lovely corner which Fallon seemed destined to head into the roof of the net until he was sent off balance by Marcel Seip's eagerness to compete for the same ball.

Douglas passed the first 35 minutes without doing more than fielding back-passes, before he was called into action twice in quick succession.

Excellent anticipation and positioning, followed by quickness in getting down, denied Byfield when the City man was played in with a clever quick pass from his strike partner Adebola that had sent the Argyle back-four dizzy.

Almost immediately, Douglas came out to field a cross from former Argyle trialist Bradley Orr and was clattered by Byfield. For a moment, Hodges' life flashed in front of his eyes, but the big Scot picked himself up off the floor to carry on his good work.

The fourth official had already signalled for one minute of added time at the end of the first half when Argyle took the lead.

Teale was the provider, having latched on to a left-wing cross from Sawyer that had made its way across a crowded penalty box to the opposite flank, to cut the ball back into the danger area.

Fallon was on it in a flash, striding forward to drill a thoughtfully-placed low left-foot shot past Adriano Basso into the corner of the goal. His celebration reflected his faith, first sinking to his knees, and then pointing a finger skywards and looking towards the heavens.

Brian Wilson went off without a smile at half-time to be replaced by the more attacking wide man Ivan Sproule, who had given Paul Connolly plenty of work in the return fixture at Home Park earlier in the season.

At least Wilson could keep dry, as the second half began in teeming rain. That was not the only thing pouring on the Pilgrims' heads as Bristol restarted with a vengeance, firing the ball into the Argyle box and looking for their big men.

The Pilgrims threw bodies in the way, defending their lead with everything they had. The nearest City came to scoring was when Marvin Elliott rose to meet a Michael McIndoe corner with a header that was cleared off the line by a little bit of Douglas and a lot of Wottsy.

Argyle countered with a raid down the left which ended with Basso saving bravely at Halmosi's feet. The Brazilian needed some treatment, as Teale waited to take the corner from which the Pilgrims extended their lead.

There was precious few City challenges as Connolly rose to head the ball back across the goal from the far post, allowing Fallon the opportunity to nudge it home from a couple of feet.

City increased their pressure, and Douglas was called into action to hold on to a rising drive from Australian Nick Carle, before Johnson upped the home side's attacking ante by putting on the giant Vaskó up front and replacing Byfield with Trundle.

Trundle was given the chance to immediately pull one back after an atrocious decision by Bates who gave a handball against Easter after the Argyle man broke from a defensive wall to charge down McIndoe's free-kick from the edge of the D. Easter's hands were not noticeably raised, and there was little he could do to avoid the ball hitting him.

Argyle went close to extending their two-goal margin when Nalis, on from Halmosi, was allowed a free header following Teale's corner, but Basso tipped the ball over the crossbar without too much fuss.

The twin introduction of Jimmy and Jamie Mackie injected fresh legs into the Pilgrims' efforts, as City continued to press threateningly.

Still, though, Douglas was more of a last-man sweeper than a goalkeeper, thanks to the efforts of those in front of him. That was until he was forced into a scrambling save from Orr's poke that took a skip on the greasy surface.

Bates gave City another boost by deciding to add a further six minutes to proceedings, even though there had been no time-wasting and precious little involvement from either physio - Basso's headache excluded.

No matter. The Pilgrims are back.

Bristol City (4-4-2): 1 Adriano Basso; 2 Bradley Orr, 6 Louis Carey (capt), 4 Liam Fontaine (Tamás Vaskó 67), 3 Jamie McAllister; 18 Brian Wilson (29 Ivan Sproule half-time), 10 Nick Carle, 25 Marvin Elliott, 11 Michael McIndoe; 34 Darren Byfield (23 Lee Trundle 70), 35 Dele Adebola. Substitutes (not used): 7 Scott Murray, 22 Chris Weale (gk).

Argyle (4-4-2): 28 Rab Douglas; 2 Paul Connolly, 21 Russell Anderson, 19 Marcel Seip, 18 Gary Sawyer; 7 Gary Teale (26 Nadjim Abdou 79), 6 Chris Clark, 15 Paul Wotton (capt), 16 Péter Halmosi (4 Lilian Nalis 70); 14 Rory Fallon, 36 Jermaine Easter (25 Jamie Mackie 79). Substitutes (not used): 9 Steve MacLean, 17 Lee Hodges.

Referee: Tony Bates (Staffordshire).

Attendance: 19,011 (2,021 away).