Darren Moore was left frustrated with his side’s lacklustre finishing as Sheffield United fell to a late 2-1 defeat against Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday.
It was the worst possible start for the Owls at Home Park as Argyle striker Ryan Hardie latched onto a brilliant through ball from Finn Azaz and fired the hosts ahead after three minutes.
Moore’s men delivered a swift response through Liam Palmer, whose left-footed strike beat Argyle shot stopper Michael Cooper to bring Wednesday level.
Despite a quick response to the early opener, Wednesday failed to convert their chances that Moore felt was their downfall as Argyle snatched a last-gasp winner to steal the points.
“A bit more ruthless finishing and more concentration at the back. It’s cost us tonight. With the personnel that we’ve got and the way we go about our jobs, we create chances,” Moore said after the game.
“I’ve always said that as long as we’re creating chances, I believe we’ll score. We created enough tonight to go and win the game, but we didn’t.”
The result sees Plymouth extend their lead over fellow promotion hopefuls Wednesday to five points, with the Owls set to face Cheltenham at home on Saturday.
“How we set up tonight and went about it was perfect, I have no complaints with it. It’s just the goals, lapses of concentration cost us,” Moore added.
“We didn’t deserve that (the loss) tonight, but the players just switched off at moments when they needed to keep their concentration, really.”
Moore was pleased with Wednesday’s display but losing what would have been a valuable point in injury time will understandably leave the 48-year-old frustrated.
He said: “Irrespective of the result tonight it’s still early in the season after 12 games, but every game matters to us, we want the performance. I just thought tonight, the way they got the win could have been avoided.”
Argyle manager Steven Schumacher heaped praise on Wednesday, stating he was ‘mentally shattered’ after the dramatic finale in the south-west.
“We had to properly fight to get any result. It was a hard game. I thought Sheffield Wednesday played really well,” Schumacher said after his side’s win.
“They surprised us with how they lined up with their shape and changed three times I think during the game to cause us loads of problems, which they did.”
