Wayne Rooney turns attention on Portsmouth as he laments Plymouth Argyle injuries in Leeds United thrashing

Plymouth Argyle boss Wayne Rooney has swiftly turned his attention to his side’s clash with Portsmouth after his team were well beaten by Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.

Plymouth are just three points above Pompey after John Mousinho’s side earned a 1-1 draw at Hull City. The relegation rivals meet in Devon on Tuesday evening as Rooney said he was ready to quickly move on from his side’s 3-0 loss against promotion-chasing Leeds. Goals from Dan James, Joel Piroe and Brenden Aaronson put the Whites 3-0 up at the end of a one-sided first half at Elland Road. Plymouth captain Joe Edwards and Lewis Gibson missed the trip to West Yorkshire through injury and Rooney lamented those absentees at full time.

“It was probably the right result. We knew coming here today was going to be a very difficult game. After the last few weeks, we’ve picked up some key injuries in key positions but we tried to be resilient and not open up too much. Crazy five, seven minutes where we concede three and the game's done. Very disappointed with the result," he said.

"Leeds are a fantastic team, difficult team to play against. From our point of view we're trying to improve. We've got young lads coming on, it's a good atmosphere at a big club. Today it was a bad day for us, move on and look to the game on Tuesday.

"I think there's elements of luck, certainly on two of the goals. We had to defend the box better than we did for the goals. We brought Andre Gray on hoping we can nick a goal. Longer the second half went on, we knew it was going to be very difficult. I'm sure if you ask their manager, anything but promotion for Leeds will be failure. I'm sure that's the message he's getting. No doubt they'll be one of the teams fighting for the top two places."

Plymouth’s goal difference now sits a -12, just one better than Pompey’s tally of -13. A victory by any scoreline for Mousinho’s men on Tuesday will see them move above Argyle and off the bottom of the Championship.