page_title: History of Plymouth Argyle F.C.
section_title: Sturrock moves upstairs, Mariner takes charge
hierarchical_section_title: History of Plymouth Argyle F.C. / Sturrock moves upstairs, Mariner takes charge
caption_attribution_description: English: Paul Mariner during his time as Plymouth Argyle manager.
context_page_description: Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club based in Plymouth, Devon.
context_section_description: Paul Sturrock's second stint in charge came to an end on 10 December 2009, when a press conference confirmed he was relieved of his managerial duties due to two years of poor results and fan unrest and had taken up a 'business-support' role, working alongside Director and Chief Executive, Keith Todd. Head Coach Paul Mariner was placed in charge of team affairs. Sturrock's last game in charge was a 1–0 defeat at Swansea City on 8 December.
  However, Mariner lost his first two games–his first fixture resulted in a 2–0 loss at Preston North End and then Argyle were defeated 1–0 at home to Coventry, leaving the Pilgrims bottom of the table and six points adrift of safety. On Boxing day, Argyle were away at local rivals Cardiff City, and it was the first meeting between the sides at the new Cardiff City Stadium. Cardiff were fourth in the table at the time while Argyle were bottom, but full-back Gary Sawyer scored an 84th-minute winner to give the visitors a shock 0–1 victory. Two days later, Argyle thrashed relegation rivals Reading 4–1 at Home Park to go two points adrift of safety. The Pilgim's first game of 2010 was at home to Championship league leaders Newcastle United in the third round of the FA Cup. The game ended 0–0, but Newcastle won 3–0 in the replay. Victor Moses found the back of the net as Crystal Palace won 0–1 at Home Park.
  Striker Jamie Mackie scored an 82nd-minute winner to give Argyle a 1–0 victory at home to fellow strugglers Derby in mid-week. Days later, Argyle went 0–1 up away at Sheffield Wednesday, another side in relegation danger, but went on to lose 2–1. They then lost 0–1 against second place West Bromwich Albion, however new loan signing David Stockdale did save a late penalty to restore some pride for Argyle. But Stockdale, on loan from Fulham, was unable to save Shane Long's last-gasp spot kick at the Madejski Stadium, as the Pilgrims lost 2–1 at relegation rivals Reading. That result meant Argyle were eight points off safety.
  However, The Pilgrims travelled to face Barnsley in their next game, which proved to be a memorable one for the Green Army. Hugo Colace gave Barnsley the lead just before half-time, but Argyle responded well in the second period, and on 64 minutes team captain Carl Fletcher equalised with a strike from just inside the box. Ten minutes later, Jamie Mackie fired the visitors in front, and with 83 minutes on the clock, Rory Fallon scored with a lob from 35 yards (32 m) out to give Argyle a 1–3 win at Oakwell. It was the first time Argyle came from behind to win a game since Boxing day 2007, when the Greens beat QPR 2–1 at Home Park. It was also the first time they won by two goals or more away from home since 19 February 2008, when Argyle won 0–2 at Southampton. Yala Bolasie–making his Argyle debut after a season on loan at Barnet, was given the man of the match award. January signing Damien Johnson scored his first Argyle goal just days later in a 1–1 draw at home to Swansea, however it proved to be controversial. With the hosts trailing through Darren Pratley's sublime 46th-minute goal, they were awarded a penalty five minutes from time. Jamie Mackie took it, but it was well saved by Dorus de Vries. The Devon linesman ordered the spot kick to be re-taken. Johnson took it this time, but yet again de Vries was equal to it, but Johnson converted the rebound. In their next game, Craig Noone's 39th-minute header cancelled out Kari Arnason's own goal seven minutes earlier as the Greens came from behind to get a result for the third game in a row after drawing 1–1 with Leicester City.
  But the Greens' good run failed to continue after an unlucky 4–3 defeat at Sheffield United (Argyle were 3–0 down before coming back to 3–2, but then went 4–2 down before the game finished 4–3), a 1–1 draw at home to Preston North End and a 2–0 loss at fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers.
  But on 17 March, Argyle picked up a crucial three points with a thrilling 3–2 win over local rivals Bristol City. The Greens were 2–0 up at half-time through Chris Clark (with his first ever league goal for the 
caption: Mariner during his tenure as manager of Plymouth Argyle, pictured in 2010.
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