Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe was delighted to see his players end a long wait for an away win in Sky Bet League One by beating Sunderland

Argyle were rewarded with a fantastic 2-1 win after taking the lead twice at the Stadium of Light.

Adam Lewis’ 11th-minute opener was cancelled out when Aiden O’Brien’s first goal for Sunderland was headed in five minutes after the restart.

But Joe Edwards was allowed far too much space to coast into the penalty area and curl inside the far post just five minutes later to seal the points for the Pilgrims.

Plymouth’s victory – their first on the road this season, and first away win at this level since February 2019 – was sealed after lengthy inspections of the sodden pitch by referee Robert Lewis beforehand, and Lowe was satisfied to see his side do the job.

He said: “I was pleased the game went ahead. When we got here there was obviously a lot of water on there, we said we wanted to play.

“There was a suggestion we could play tomorrow, I said I wanted to play today. We were up for it, we set the game plan out and we knew we had to play a certain way, keep playing the right way. I was pleased to get the points.

“We have been unlucky really this season. It wasn’t through the lack of trying we haven’t won away. We had to respect Sunderland, the way they play now with fresh impetus under the new manager.

“It is a lovely place to play, showcase your ability, I said go and enjoy playing at this lovely place to play your football. We knew we could hurt them and we knew they could hurt us, they have some good individuals. We had that plan and it worked to a T.”

Sunderland boss Lee Johnson was frustrated to see his side fail to win again on Wearside, having inherited a team that has not won at home since November 3 in the league.

The Black Cats looked like they may have gone on to win after levelling things just after the break but Edwards’ winner meant they missed an opportunity to climb into the top six again.

“I thought we dominated every stat except the most important one,” said Johnson. “It seems to be a theme at home, we have not been as consistent in the league as we should have been here and we need to address that in the second half of the season.

“The second goal in particular was really poor to concede, we didn’t get across quickly enough to stop him, and we need to start the game better. In between the goals we dominated the play.

“There was a lot of good stuff, we had great approaches into the final third and then a lack of final delivery, the execution, the final action …

“We are not on top form, so much of our play is solid and competent (but) we need to be more consistent.

“The second was such a poor goal to concede – an attitude error, not being able to organise, track runners, and plenty of time to get across, it wasn’t as if it was a quick throw.

“They are the basics you need to get right, like Saturday, where we nabbed a clean sheet by doing those basics.”