Plymouth move on from Rooney with famous FA Cup shock at Brentford | FA Cup

They might have pulled the plug on the documentary a week too soon. It’s been a strange two weeks for Plymouth. First they sacked Wayne Rooney. Then, despite being managerless, they broke their transfer record to sign the Ghana international striker Michael Baidoo. Then they appointed the 42-year-old Austrian manager Miron Muslic to succeed Rooney. And then, to cap it all, with the interim duo of the first-team coach Kevin Nancekivell and the club captain Joe Edwards still in charge, they pulled off their most eye-catching result in years, Morgan Whittaker’s 82nd-minute goal giving them victory over Premier League Brentford.

In the nine away games before Rooney was sacked, Plymouth’s run of results read: 0-2, 0-4, 0-2, 0-4, 1-6, 1-1, 0-3, 0-1, 0-5. “How shit must you be? We’re drawing away,” the away fans were singing within five seconds – a line in gallows humour that earned a discernible laugh form the home end. But this really didn’t look like a side that has conceded 35 goals in 14 away league games this season.

Conor Hazard made useful saves from Kevin Schade and Fábio Carvalho but that aside Brentford’s threat was limited to a string of corners. Plymouth, with Adam Randell and Caleb Roberts offering a deep-lying shield in front of the back three, were impressively solid. Given they also kept a clean sheet in drawing at Stoke last weekend, that does not reflect especially well on Rooney’s management.

Muslic was in the stands, watching his new team after signing a three and a half year deal on Friday. There will be no fly-on-the-wall coverage of his progress as he tries to drag his side off the bottom of the table and bridge the three-point gap to safety, but he does at least have a CV to brandish that isn’t just a list of doomed clubs where he should never have taken a job.

He led Cercle Brugge from the Belgian relegation zone to the European play-offs in his first season, and then, after a best finish since 2008, into Europe for only the fourth time in their history. And documentary or not, Plymouth fans will happily be watching this back for some time.

It’s fair to say that the FA Cup is not Brentford’s priority – but that’s not Plymouth’s concern. Brentford haven’t beaten a top-flight side in the competition since 2005-06, and even that was only a Sunderland team on their way to a then-record Premier League low of 15 points. Thomas Frank made six changes to the side that hammered Southampton last week, which did at least mean a return for Rico Henry, who made his first appearance since damaging the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in September 2023.

Baidoo’s role before being withdrawn after an hour was a thankless one, as an isolated frontrunner looking to do enough harrying to at least occasionally relieve the pressure on the Plymouth rearguard. But with Bali Mumba overlapping repeatedly, there were occasional suggestions Plymouth might be able to prise an opening on their left and Callum Wright, chopping inside from that flank, drew a low save from Hákon Valdimarsson after 18 minutes. And the longer the game went on, the more their fans began to believe, roaring every challenge and celebrating each corner with ferocious abandon.

Their chance seemed to have come as a neat break ended with a cross to the back post. Matthew Sorinola charged onto it, but headed over. Another opportunity, though, did present itself, Whittaker picking up the ball on the right and being allowed to drift across the top of the box before the space finally opened up for him to clip a low left-footed shot at goal. Mustapha Bundu was in an offside position and probably in Valdimarsson’s eyeline, but the linesman did not raise the flag and there is no VAR at this stage. In the stand, Muslic allowed himself a gentle smile.

The ecstatic Plymouth fans ended as they had begun, with one small but vital change to the lyrics. “How shit must you be – we’re winning away?”