Wayne Rooney: Plymouth Argyle got what they deserved with Sunderland win

Wayne Rooney says Plymouth Argyle’s stunning second-half defense to beat Championship leaders Sunderland 3-2 at Home Park came as no surprise to him.

   Although his Pilgrims side trailed 1-0 at the break after conceding a 24th-minute penalty from Patrick Roberts, Rooney trusted his players could turn things around if they played with more energy in the second half.

   That belief proved well-founded as Argyle put in a strong and determined performance, first taking a 2-1 lead through a Daniel Ballard own goal and a Ryan Hardie spot-kick, before Romaine Mundle equalized and won in the 86th minute.  .    with captain Joe Edwards overtime

   It was Rooney’s first Championship win as Pilgrims boss and it muted some of the national narrative about him and the start of his time at the club, but he wanted to make sure the players got credit for it.

   “I’m happy with the three points,” he said.    “In the first half, we passed the ball a bit carelessly at times, and then they took the lead with a penalty.

   “I felt like we were starting to get back into the game and try to get a little bit more control. I told them at halftime if we get the energy up, get our players in the box and deny shots, we’re going to win the game, I really felt like they went out and did  exactly what I asked for and we got the award.I’m happy for the guys because I think they deserved it.

   Argyle had picked up just two points and scored just a handful of goals in their first four league games before the international break, so a win and three goals to go – especially as it was against the leaders – was what was needed.

   Rooney said: “Any win is a big win. I think we’ve put in some good performances over the last couple of weeks but we just haven’t gone over the line and got the result. I think we had a good performance today, especially in the second half and we did it  is to get over the line and we got a late winner.