Plymouth manager Ryan Lowe hailed the spirit of his side as they battled back from a goal down to secure a dramatic 2-1 victory over bottom side Doncaster at Home Park.

The visitors went ahead through Jordy Hiwula but also had manager Richie Wellens dismissed late on as the home side scored two penalties to take the victory.

Lowe said: “I think it was great character and resilience shown. It wasn’t the best game, Doncaster did well to be fair – they caught us with a counter for their goal. Fair play to them, they came here with a game plan and they nearly executed it.”

Argyle, who levelled through a Luke Jephcott spot-kick with 68 minutes gone after Kyle Knoyle felled Ryan Broom, snatched all three points in stoppage time.

Conor Grant converted a second penalty of the afternoon after Pontus Dahlberg hauled down substitute Kieran Agard in the box.

Rovers manager Wellens was dismissed by referee Trevor Kettle in the aftermath of the second penalty.

Plymouth fell behind to Hiwula’s composed finish after 54 minutes from an incisive counter-attack.

The Doncaster forward nearly added to his tally shortly after, only to be denied by a headed goal-line clearance from centre-back James Wilson – a moment that Argyle manager Lowe believes was the catalyst for the comeback.

He said: “The turning point for me was when Willo clears one off the line [at 1-0 down]. Schuey [assistant manager Steven Schumacher] said to me ‘that’s the turning point – we’ll go and score now.’

“The fans were bringing us through, they were singing in their numbers. That’s what we’re going to need because there’s going to be flat performances at times, and we need them to drag us through – they certainly did.”

Doncaster manager Wellens felt his side deserved more from their performance in Devon, bemoaning the crucial penalty decisions made by referee Kettle.

He said: “Is it a penalty? It probably is a penalty, but week-in, week-out, you will see people getting to the bye-line, and pulling a cross back, the defender going into them, and it will not be given.

“The second one is not a penalty, Pontus says he hasn’t touched him, I watched it back – the lad’s dived.

“That was a different class performance. When we went 1-0 up, we changed a little bit, and we went a little too passive.

“We created chances, we could have had a lot of goals today. We’ve come here today and we were better than them, in our shape, the way that we played.

“That gives me a lot of satisfaction. My only negative would be that we got a bit panicky when we were 1-0 up.”