Mathias Doumbe's 78th second red card assisted Town's progress towards a 3-0 victory over Plymouth. After Doumbe's dismissal for a professional foul on Jon Walters, Owen Garvan and Alan Lee put the Blues into a comfortable lead. Late on, Danny Haynes netted a third, Town's 4,000th league goal.
Skipper Jason De Vos was OK to play after his latest foot injury, while Gavin Williams took over from Sylvain Legwinski in the centre of midfield. With Dan Harding suspended, David Wright continued at left-back with Fabian Wilnis on the right. Matt Richards started on the left with Gary Roberts on the right and Alan Lee and Jon Walters up front.
There was no place on the bench for youngster Jordan Rhodes, however the striker and the other unused subs from the 19-man squad named yesterday were all involved in the pre-match warm-up.
The game's main talking point occurred after only 34 seconds. Jon Walters chased a ball over the top and got in front of Mathias Doumbe, whose shove sent the Town striker to ground on the edge of the box, denying him what was irrefutably an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Referee Jon Moss, positioned some distance behind the pair's clash, initially waved play on, but the better placed linesman flagged for a foul. The two briefly discussed the incident and, with the clock reaching the 78-second mark, Moss awarded the freekick and gave Doumbe Portman Road's fastest ever red card, to inevitable Plymouth protests. Garvan's freekick came to nothing.
Soon after Lewis Price had saved Barry Hayles's 20-yard strike, the Blues went in front. Gavin Williams played a diagonal ball to Gary Roberts on the right, the former Accrington man finding Owen Garvan just to his left. The Irishman took a touch before deftly curling the ball across Plymouth keeper Luke McCormick and into the corner of the net for his first goal of the season.
Town added to their lead on 13. A De Vos header from a Garvan corner had been cleared to the left, where Walters slipped in Garvan inside the area. Town's first goalscorer played a low ball across the edge of the six-yard box and Alan Lee slid in his 16th goal of the season.
The Blues continued to dominate and pass the ball around at will with the visitors having failed to recover from the early dismissal. Walters came close to scoring his second Town goal with a lob over the advancing McCormick which went only just wide. Soon after, Lee cleverly took down a through ball but sent his shot narrowly past the post.
Plymouth might have pulled a goal back in the 27th minute when Lewis Price palmed a cross out to Scott Sinclair but the youngster on loan from Chelsea put the ball into the upper tier of the Greene King Stand from the edge of the box.
But it was mainly Town with Garvan seeing a 20-yard strike deflect wide on the half hour, then Lee having an effort chalked off for offside after good work from Walters.
McCormick saved another deflected Garvan strike, the Irishman continuing his recent rich vein of form.
Garvan wasn't far from scoring his second in the 39th minute when he started a Town break and ended it by heading a Matt Richards cross too close to McCormick. As the half drew to a close, Roberts hit a shot but again too near to the Pilgrims' keeper.
Town had dominated the half and might have been more than two goals up at the break. The visitors, clearly knocked sideways by the early red card, had shown little aside from a couple of penetrating runs from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Scott Sinclair.
As the teams prepared for the second half, the assistant referee whose intervention had led to the red card was cheered by the North Stand as he checked the nets.
Argyle had the ball in the net in the 52nd minute but Ebanks-Blake had very obviously handled De Vos's clearance and the referee's whistle had gone long before he slipped the ball past Price.
The visitors had started the second half brightly and on 55 Marcel Seip headed a corner goalwards but straight at Price.
Just before the hour, an Alex Bruce error allowed Ebanks-Blake a run on goal but Price came out quickly to block with his feet. Two minutes later, Danny Haynes took over from Matt Richards, the England U19 international taking up a wide right role with Gary Roberts moving to the left.
On 66 Williams shot wide, but the Blues were significantly less impressive after the break with the game all but won within the first 20 minutes of the first half.
Paul Connolly wasted a good chance for the Pilgrims in the 68th minute, scuffing his effort to Price when found in space on the right of the penalty area.
Lee shot straight at McCormick, just before Billy Clarke replaced Jon Walters up front and Ian Miller came on for Fabian Wilnis, the former Bury Town man making his first appearance for the Blues. The 23-year-old, recalled from a loan spell at Darlington a week ago, took up his usual central defensive role with Alex Bruce switching to right-back.
Price saved a Barry Hayles header after David Wright had misjudged the flight of the ball, then Miller picked up his first Town yellow card after a clash with Hayles, although it appeared the Town man had actually been pulled back by the veteran striker and not the other way around.
With 10 minutes remaining, Alex Bruce made a brave saving challenge as Kevin Gallen was about to lash a loose ball goalwards.
As the match entered injury time, Danny Haynes comprehensively accelerated around the outside of Plymouth's right-back, cut into the area and belted the ball past McCormick for his seventh goal of the season, a goal very similar to his sixth at Hull earlier in the month. Haynes's strike was also Town's 4,000th league goal since they first entered the Football League in 1938.
A minute later, Haynes once again left defenders in his wake with another fleet-footed sprint down the right. This time he crossed to the far post, but Billy Clarke shot wide when it seemed easier to score, the Irish striker appearing to be the victim of a cruel bobble.
Clarke's miss was the last action of a game generally as comfortable as any Town have had this season. The early red card, which appeared warranted under the laws of the game, although a punishment somewhat bigger than the crime, stopped the match from ever being a real contest. The Blues relaxed rather too much after the break and the visitors threatened early on despite their lack of numbers.
Town boss Jim Magilton is unlikely to have been impressed with the second half performance, but in the first the Blues did everything they needed to against the 10-men with Owen Garvan at the heart of everything.
Ian Miller made one or two telling contributions during his 15 minutes on the field and showed no signs of nerves on his Town debut, quickly barking orders at more senior colleagues.
Three points which guarantee the Blues' Championship status and which take Town above Norwich and into 15th place with another home game against Barnsley next week.
Town: Price, Wilnis (Miller 73), Wright, De Vos, Bruce, Garvan, Williams, Roberts, Richards (Haynes 61), Lee, Walters (Clarke 73). Unused: Supple. Peters. Att: 21,078.
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