"Very, very hard" - Miron Muslic assesses Plymouth Argyle, Middlesbrough flashpoint | OneFootball

What Plymouth Argyle manager Miron Muslic said after his side were on the wrong end of a late penalty call against Middlesbrough.

Summary

Plymouth Argyle boss Miron Muslic was left feeling rather hard done by on Good Friday, as his side fell to a 93rd-minute penalty to lose them a point against Middlesbrough.

Boro took the lead early on via ex-Pilgrim Finn Azaz, but their advantage was short-lived as Mustapha Bundu levelled the contest just five minutes later.

Both sides had plenty of chances to take the lead, but it wouldn't be until late in stoppage time that the breakthrough came.

A controversial penalty decision came when skipper Joe Edwards was judged to have taken Tommy Conway to ground, receiving a red card and allowing the Middlesbrough striker to win his side the game.

This saw Argyle boss Muslic describe the decision as "very, very hard," in an interview with Plymouth Live following the match. The 42-year-old was left ruing the penalty call and the missed chances, as his side slipped closer to League One.

Miron Muslic left to rue missed chances and penalty call in Middlesbrough defeat

Plymouth put themselves in a great place heading into a busy Easter weekend with victory over Sheffield United last time out. But, their latest result has been quite a punch in the gut for Muslic and his squad, as the Bosnian told Plymouth Live.

"I think we played today a brilliant game. We deserved this point massively. We had an expected goal value of over two. We created, statistically, five big, big chances," Muslic said.

"Our game plan worked out completely with Joe [Edwards] on the right side and Darko [Gyabi] as a right 10, who I think had five shots on target and created three big chances. So everything was off the script and this point felt good for us because I was aware of the Derby-Luton result.

"I think if you heard and saw the reaction of the Green Army they also saw a team give it all for this point. I think we deserved this point, it hurts but we are still alive. The next opportunity for us to go again all-in is Monday, and we will do it.

"We did it very well and kept consistently our transition threat, creating so many goal-scoring opportunities. It shows the strong performance we had and losing this game, or losing this very much-deserved point, hurts."

Argyle can take solace from Middlesbrough performance

It truly is now a case of three cup finals to go for Plymouth, as they look to overcome the odds and remain in the Championship next season.

Muslic has the Greens sat just three points adrift of safety, with as many games to play.

Regardless of the result, as the 42-year-old stated, Plymouth can certainly be proud of the performance they put in on Teesside, and look to right the wrongs of Friday's result by converting a strong performance into three points on Easter Monday.

Any feelings of hurt or injustice must be quickly forgotten by the Argyle players, as a quick turnaround leaves them with little time to get over the crushing defeat and focus on the next game.

"With this point, and hopefully a strong performance on Monday, we could get there where we want, that's why it feels heavy right now because the lads gave it all," a deflated but optimistic Muslic also told Plymouth Live regarding his hopes for the survival battle.

Despite the gut punch at the end of the match, the Pilgrims must channel this frustration and heartache to produce a similar performance against Coventry City on Monday, but this time ensure they take their chances to wrap up three points.