Tom Cleverley wants immediate response after Plymouth lose out to 10-man Bolton

Plymouth boss Tom Cleverley is urging his team to bounce back from a 2-1 home defeat by 10-man Bolton when they go to Barnsley on Monday.

Despite Ronan Curtis cancelling out Johnny Kenny’s second-half penalty opener, Wanderers won thanks to a bizarre own goal by Malachi Boateng, under pressure from Sam Dalby.

John McAtee was sent off in the 43rd minute for a foul on Argyle defender Alex Mitchell but Bolton still came out on top.

Plymouth, who were bottom of the table in November, are now ninth and just three points off sixth-placed Reading after a brilliant run, and Cleverley wants an immediate response to this loss.

“Monday is another huge game,” he said. “We have got a points total in our mind.

“We knew we were going to lose matches. We have made it hard for ourselves.

“Four wins and a draw could be the total. The margin for error is becoming a lot less.

“We need to show the form in the next six games that we showed in the previous six games.

“I thought first half our performance was strong but you certainly cannot concede two goals as cheaply as we did. We made it very difficult for ourselves.

“I thought Bolton defended the box well and we found it difficult to break down. We know we can play a lot better than that.”

Bolton boss Steven Schumacher, whose side are third ahead of Monday’s home game with fifth-placed Stockport, said: “Today was entertaining, eventful – more eventful than we wanted it to be.

“Obviously with the red card we had to change our plans and try and do things differently.

“We knew it was going to be a physical game. Argyle have been so good lately because of how strong they are and how physical the two centre-forwards are. How effective they are from set pieces.

“We needed everyone to stand up today and through a bit of adversity this week with our team selection, as you’ll have seen, we all dug in and found a way to win the game.

“We started the second half really well. We got off to a good start and then Johnny Kenny has done brilliantly to win us a penalty and got us something to hold on to.

“The response was good from Argyle. It was a good goal. Then we score a goal, obviously against the run of play, but when you are down to 10 men, sometimes you have got to take it.”