A late double from Plymouth Argyle beats 10-man Exeter City in the Carabao Cup, and Alex Hartridge calls out abuse from Exeter fans.
Plymouth scored two goals in two minutes after a sequence of errors in the First Round. Alex Hartridge put Plymouth ahead against his former side in the 92nd minute before Aribim Pepple then made it 2-0 with seconds to go until full time.
Ethan Sunderland came off the bench in the 65th minute, received a yellow card in the 78th, then was shown a red on the 88th after pulling back Matty Sorinola.
The game also had to be stopped after an object, thought to be a cigarette lighter, was thrown onto the pitch before Plymouth’s Pepple had a goal on 45 minutes disallowed.
Plymouth will now face Coventry in the Second Round of the Carabao Cup. Check out the highlights and post-match interviews below…
Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley said to BBC Sport after the game:
“There’s always an overwhelming sort of sense of relief when you manage to achieve these moments.
“But I’m sure that when I put my head down tonight there’ll be a real proud and pleased part of what I feel, because we’ve managed to overcome a lot of challenges last year as a team and prove a lot of things that we were not so good at, but the one thing that was outstanding was a derby win.
“We didn’t show the best version of ourselves last year in both of them so it’s nice to put a dominating performance on tonight.
“We had to be patient, so did our supporters, but we got there in the end.”
Cleverley on the abuse aimed at Hartridge, as per Plymouth Live: “It was close to the bone wasn’t it? It was over the line but these things unfortunately happen in derbies and there is only one way as a player you can respond to that – and what a story.
“Bim will take some of the headlines, and Freddie (Issaka), as an academy product, with the impact he made off the bench, but I think there is only one story come out of this game.
“It’s the guy who used to play for Exeter, who suffered some pretty poor abuse in the first half and then goes and scores the winner.
“I’m delighted for him. He has been outstanding since he has been here. To be successful you need as many players who you can count on to be seven out of 10 every week, and he’s certainly one of them.
“We were DESPERATE to show a better version of ourselves”Tom Cleverley was proud of the performance of his Plymouth team in the Devon Derby 💪 pic.twitter.com/jZ2Z8OMqDj— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 10, 2026
Alex Hartridge spoke on the abuse, telling BBC Sport: “I think it’s pretty clear that that went too far.
“The rivalry and the game that this is is great because of the animosity between the fanbases and that’s why it’s so good, but it’s not nice to see it spill over and to be a part of that.
“It definitely gave me a bit more and it made that sweeter, the way it ended.”
Hartridge said, as per Plymouth Live: “I think it’s pretty clear that went too far. The rivalry, and the game that this is, is great because of the animosity between the fanbases.
“That’s why it’s so good, but it’s not nice to see it spill over and to be a part of that. Definitely, it gave me a bit more and it made that sweeter the way it ended.”
On if the object struck him or not, he said: “No, terrible shot, although it was quite long range.
“It didn’t affect my game. If anything it just riled me up for five minutes and then it just disappears out of your mind. It’s not nice, but it’s not for me to react to it. It means nothing really.
“The people I love, I think, are okay. I will check in on them and make sure this experience hasn’t affected them. Stick and abuse I was expecting. None of what they said is true so it’s just words.
“The reason why there is kind of that I guess hatred from some people towards me is because of the things I have done for Exeter, and the opportunities that Exeter has given me as a club, and my relationship with people there.
“Not that I need it, but it’s validifying my success there and the things I have done at that club that I’m proud of, as well as what I’m hoping to do here.”
“No words, really, amazing atmosphere”
“This is a HUGE club, never a League One club”Plymouth goalscorers Alex Hartridge and Aribim Pepple react to winning the Devon Derby and progressing in the Carabao Cup 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/Dn3bOXCSEN— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 10, 2026
Exeter boss Matt Taylor said, as per the club website: “I’m hurt, proud and emotions are mixed. We gave so much and got so little out there. The end result, which is painful right now and the physical exertion of the group was was outstanding. The honesty of the group was outstanding. We lacked quality in certain moments of the game, and that’s to be expected at times.
“They’ve got some good players and then a bit of an experience as the second half went on and a little bit of lack of control and then a set piece. We defended our box so, so well for such long parts of that game, we feel a little bit hard done by in terms of the, the refereeing decision for, for that goal.
“That could easily be in a foul against one of their players. But you know, I certainly don’t want to make an excuses and take anything away from Plymouth. And the way it finished in terms of second goal was an extra add to our pain right now, but it wasn’t a fair reflection on the rest of the game. It was a real game of fine margins.”
Here’s the social media reaction after a late double from Plymouth beats 10-man Exeter, and Alex Hartridge calls out abuse from Exeter fans…
@olpafc_: ALEX HARTRIDGE HE LEFT COS YOURE SHIT
@SebC__: Exeter graduate Alex Hartridge with a bullet header one minute from time for Plymouth 😭😭😭😭 Who wrote the script 😂😂😂
@MikeBlackmore96:
Ohhh it had to be him didn’t it….
Up the Hartridge
Up the Argyle
Devon is and forever will be green 💚
#pafc
@CD_PAFC: The absolute sh*thousery of this goal is utter brilliance. GET IN!!!
@Adam_Price17: Did we beat them with the best possible performance? No. But we beat them in the funniest way possible, and that’s good enough for me. #pafc
@HarryCarlton5: Back up the a38 they go 💚 #pafc
@taylorjhn1: It just had to be Hartridge!!! #pafc
@Paolomc84: Hartridge, you love to see it!! 😂💚 #pafc
You must be logged in to post a comment Login