Plymouth Argyle’s Mike Cooper denied deserved clean sheet in dying seconds by Burton Albion

Burton Albion earned a point they deserved in the dying seconds against Plymouth Argyle when Ryan Broom cancelled out Ryan Hardie’s opener, denying Argyle goalkeeper Michael Cooper a 13th clean sheet of the season.

Cooper put in an excellent display in goal for the Pilgrims, keeping them in the game in the first-half when Burton were on top, and could do little about the Brewers’ goal in the closing stages.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s side should have been ahead early on, but Tom Hamer saw his effort turned round the post.

Five minutes later and Burton again came close, this time through Hayden Carter whose headed effort looked to be going in before a fantastic save by the Argyle shot-stopper.

The hosts were left wondering what they had to do to score after 16 minutes when John Brayford’s header was going in before another good save by Cooper.

Another three saves were made to deny the hosts before the break, with the first-half ending level largely thanks to the efforts of both goalkeepers, although one was certainly busier than the other.

After the break the game carried on where it left off, Burton were on top but they did not look as dangerous as they had in the first 45 minutes.

The visitors took the lead against the run of play in the 69th minute when Ryan Hardie raced onto a ball forward from Tyrese Fornah and then chipped the ball over Burton’s goalkeeper Ben Garratt and into an empty net.

Argyle had been seeing the game out well, but as the game went on the Brewers were throwing more and more forward in search of an equaliser.

Cooper continued to deny the hosts, but there was to be one last twist in the four minutes added on. Hamer’s long throw was flicked on by Mike Fondop finding Kane Hemmings who forced another save from the Argyle goalkeeper, his 10th save of the game, but the ball went across the face of goal where Ryan Broom was racing in to sweep home the equaliser.

The goal denied Argyle a rare away win, a first victory at the Pirelli Stadium, and denied Cooper the clean sheet his performance deserved.

Speaking about the equaliser after the game, Plymouth Argyle manager Ryan Lowe said:

“He’s got a great hand on it, it should have been stopped down here [further down the pitch]. I think the way they play, Burton, with long throws from all different areas of the pitch, at some point there was going to be something that fell for them, that’s just the way football is.

“Mike’s been very good, he’s been excellent. I always say that’s his job to make saves, to keep the ball out the back of the net.

“For us, he’s ours, we want to keep improving him. If he continues to make saves and keep performing the way he’s been performing then he’s got a bright future.”

This season is the 21-year-old’s first as a first team regular, having been pushing for the starting spot since he made his debut off the bench away at Blackburn Rovers in 2017/18.

In the same season Cooper caught the eye for Argyle’s Under-18s in the FA Youth Cup where the young Pilgrims knocked out Manchester City and Burnley, keeping clean sheets against both, before being knocked out by Fulham after extra time in the Fifth Round.

The youngster has spent a lot of time on the bench in recent seasons with loanees Matt Macey (2018/19) and Alex Palmer (2019/20) being first choice, but this season Cooper has made the spot his own.

It has not been all plain sailing for the number one, during Argyle’s run of six defeats in a row in November into December there were people questioning whether he was ready for League One, but his performances since have proven the doubters wrong.

Cooper has kept seven clean sheets since the turn of the year, having kept just three before that. There are nine goalkeepers in League One who have kept more clean sheets in the league this season, but all nine play for the current top nine sides in the division.

Argyle meanwhile currently sit 16th, and could drop to 18th after other sides have played their games in hand, which means Cooper is in a higher position than you might expect. Especially when you consider that only three sides have conceded more than Argyle this season.

The defence in front of Cooper has rarely been settled. In the first half of the season there were various combinations from the options of Kelland Watts, Niall Canavan, Will Aimson, Jerome Opoku and Scott Wootton.

January saw further changes, with Canavan joining Bradford City and Scott Wootton joining Wigan Athletic on loan, while Sam Woods joined on loan from Crystal Palace. Despite this, the defence has largely been the same three players since then, with Watts, Opoku and Aimson being the main trio, although there has been rotation in recent weeks.

Having a more settled backline in the second half of the season may well have helped Cooper when it comes to keeping clean sheets, but his performances have seemed to get better almost week by week.

Argyle do not have many players contracted for next season yet but Cooper is one who is, and assuming no-one signs him in the summer, he will likely continue as first choice goalkeeper and continuing getting the chances to improve and impress, as he has done this season.

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