Plymouth director of football Neil Dewsnip was “absolutely delighted” with his side’s shock 1-0 Championship victory at home to leaders Leicester that eased their relegation worries.

Recalled Mustapha Bundu scored a 21st-minute winner with an angled strike after running onto a defence-splitting ball from Adam Forshaw.

Home goalkeeper Michael Cooper made a string of stops as Leicester piled on the pressure but the hosts held on for maximum points as they moved to 16th and now sit five points clear of the bottom three.

Dewsnip said: “We are absolutely delighted with the result. Made up but we know it’s not done yet. We still have a target and that is to stay in this league.

“Our aim is to stay in the league. It’s been the same since day one when we started in the Championship. It’s been a great night for Plymouth Argyle Football Club.

“We still have three more games to play and more points to play for. The players stuck to the shape we wanted and I am delighted we stuck to the game plan.

“Mustapha’s goal was absolutely terrific. He’s got that finish in him we see every week in training. It does fly over the railings one or two times but credit to him that was a really good goal.

“The fans from the first minute to the last were just at it. I found myself clapping with them at one point.

“I am absolutely delighted the team recorded a 1-0 win for them.

“We have not had a great record defending set -pieces, so we worked on it and got an unbelievable response.

“Thankfully tonight was our night not theirs. I am sure Leicester will have theirs in the future.

“Tomorrow I think I will be watching the scores come in, especially as 24 hours ago we weren’t sitting here with these three points.”

Leicester boss Enzo Maresca took the positives from their second-consecutive loss as they remain level on points with second-placed Ipswich, with Leeds a point further back ahead of their games on Saturday.

He said: “It has been a tough week with two defeats in a row that we did not expect so we are upset.

“The only good thing is that fortunately, it is still in our hands.

“We need to take our chances and start to win games. We have four games to go, three of them at home, with our fans behind us, so hopefully we can finish well.

“At the end – and I have said it many times – the problem is when you don’t create chances. That is when you have to be worried and find a different solution.

“At this moment we are struggling to score. We created chances inside the six-yard box, from outside the box and we struggle.

“But there are moments over the season where we need to win the game and it doesn’t matter which way we need to win the game.

“But as I said, the positive thing is it’s still in our hands in the last four games. Now we cannot lose any more chances we have to try and win those (four) games.

“At this moment we need all our players. For sure, when you don’t win games there is always a why?

“I don’t see a big difference between tonight’s game and when we started the season.

“When we lose you are always looking for the reason. The team are still competing and are still creating chances.

“I don’t know if we need all the four games to win the league but we will still go out to win those four games.

“With one chance they (Plymouth) were clinical and we had more chances and were not clinical.”

Leaders Leicester missed the chance to move clear at the top of the Championship as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat away to relegation-threatened Plymouth, thanks to Mustapha Bundu’s 21st-minute winner.

Second-placed Ipswich remain level on points with the Foxes, with Leeds a point further back ahead of their games on Saturday with all three clubs currently having four matches left.

Managerless Argyle climbed to 16th on the back of their first home win in seven, under the caretaker management team of director of football Neil Dewsnip and first-team coach Kevin Nancekivell and now sit five points clear of the bottom three.

It only took five minutes for Leicester to test home goalkeeper Michael Cooper as Abdul Fatawu’s thumping right-footed shot – following a flowing move – forcing him into a diving save low down to his left.

Ricardo Pereira was next to test Cooper, following a defence-splitting one-two with Wilfred Ndidi. Again it was all diving Cooper could do to parry the ball away.

Stephy Mavididi latched on to the aerial ball and headed it back across the goal, which resulted in a goalmouth scramble and Argyle eventually clearing the ball.

Mavididi went close with a curling 13th-minute shot after being teed up by playmaker Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the edge of the box. The attacking midfielder’s shot beat Cooper for pace but flew just past the post.

Totally against the run of play, Plymouth stunned their visitors with a 21st-minute goal on the counter.

Adam Forshaw intercepted a Leicester attack and released recalled striker Bundu with a superb, measured pass through the middle of the park.

Bundu sprinted forward and – as he got into the penalty box – let fly with a fierce angled drive from the right that beat diving Mads Hermansen and rocketed into the far corner.

Harry Winks fired wide from 20 yards as Argyle failed to clear their lines following another City corner with the half-hour mark approaching.

Argyle’s next best chance fell to Bundu, after good work by Forshaw and substitute Joe Edwards, but this time the striker fired high over.

Cooper did well to save low at his near post as Dewsbury-Hall fired across the face of goal in the 44th minute from close range.

Cooper was again called into action early in the second half as he made another save, while Dewsbury-Hall tried his luck from 25 yards moments later.

Central defender Dan Scarr did well to stoop and head a pacy Fatawu cross from the right away at the near post as Leicester continued to press or an equaliser.

Fatawu’s next cross from the right – after 56 minutes – found striker Patson Daka and his deft near-post touch beat Cooper but spun past the far upright.

Daka’s last action was firing wide when well placed at the far post after 67 minutes. He was replaced by former England international striker Jamie Vardy.

With just over 15 minutes remaining, Wout Faes’ cross from the right was smashed towards goal by Mavididi but again, Cooper was equal to the effort.

Cooper made an even better stop, bravely diving in to deny Vardy as the Leicester striker broke into the box, one-on-one, in the 88th minute but the hosts held on for the much-needed victory.

Plymouth manager Steven Schumacher felt there was a clear turning point in his side’s 3-2 loss to Ipswich.

Schumacher felt referee Gavin Ward should have awarded Argyle a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area following a last-ditch tackle by George Edmundson on Mustapha Bundu.

Ipswich equalised moments later with an own goal from Bali Mumba.

He said it was “a refereeing decision I can’t get my head around” which he thought was worthy of a red card.

“I thought the lads played unbelievably well and I just said to them I’m proud of them, the effort they put in, the way that we stuck to the plan today,” Schumacher said.

“We knew coming to Ipswich Town they have been the best team in the league with Leicester and we knew we were going to have spells where we had to stick together and defend.

“But we did that. In the first half we defended really well and counter-attacked with purpose…our goal was outstanding.

“Morgan (Whittaker) scores a brilliant goal but I’m fuming over how we didn’t get a free-kick right on the edge of their box at a really pivotal moment in the game, because what happened next Ipswich went down the other end and scored from it.

“It was a refereeing decision I can’t get my head around.

“We watched it back at half-time and Mustapha said he (Edmundson) clipped his ankle. I spoke to Gavin (Ward) and the linesman and they said they couldn’t see it. I think they were the only two people in the ground that couldn’t see it.”

Meanwhile, Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said there was “lots to be positive about” in what he described as a “tough game”.

McKenna added: “Both teams showed why they had such good seasons last season. Two fully committed teams, lots of good players on the pitch and a really tough game.

“The tone was set when they score, we have a good chance after a few minutes, don’t take it and then they score an absolute worldie really, it’s a wonderful goal.

“Full credit to the boys for coming back and getting the three goals.

“We were good value for the goals and had enough chances in the game, but having said that we know defensively we weren’t happy with the performance and things we know we need to do better, but we are early in the season.

“A good game, a good win, hard-fought and one that we’ll learn from.

“We knew it was going to be a tough second half…we got two goals and that’s a big positive.

“Good quality for the goals, we created plenty of chances, so there’s lots to be positive about.”

Whittaker struck for the visitors after seven minutes but Town equalised with time running out in the first half following Mumba’s own goal and George Hirst gave Town the lead just after the break.

Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky came to the Tractor Boys’ rescue as Argyle pressed during the closing stages but Marcus Harness struck in the 86th minute to put the game beyond Argyle, despite a late reply from Joe Edwards.

Ryan Hardie took his Championship goal tally to six as Plymouth kept bottom-placed Sheffield Wednesday winless with a 3-0 victory at Home Park.

Mustapha Bundu and Morgan Whittaker scored within a four-minute spell at the end of the first half to put Argyle 2-0 up and 70th-minute substitute Hardie added the gloss.

Winless Wednesday have now lost 10 of their opening 13 league games, with their new boss Danny Rohl suffering back-to-back defeats.

Whittaker came closest to putting Argyle ahead in the eighth minute when his delightful curling chip from outside the box from the right came back off the far post, having beaten diving keeper Cameron Dawson.

Wednesday responded well and should have scored when Josh Windass sent Anthony Musaba away down the right wing with a defence-splitting pass in the 27th minute.

Musaba raced into the Argyle penalty area and sent a thumping cross across the six-yard box but none of the Wednesday strikers could add a finishing touch.

Musaba’s next cross into the box, again from the right, was met by striker Lee Gregory, whose first time 31st-minute strike flew over, before Windass let fly with a 25-yard free-kick which fit-again keeper Michael Cooper took into his midriff.

Argyle countered with Bundu putting Whittaker in on goal. The Argyle playmaker was fouled just outside the area by Dominic Iorfa. From the free-kick Bundu let fly with an unstoppable shot that gave Dawson no chance as it flew into the top corner off the underside of the bar after 44 minutes.

Four minutes later Whittaker doubled Argyle’s advantage latching on to a back pass from Wednesday defender Pol Valentin before driving forward and then calmly slotting past stranded Dawson.

Argyle started the second half much as they had finished the first, on the front foot, with Kaine Kesler-Hayden teeing up Finn Azaz, whose shot on the run was well saved by Dawson in the 53rd minute.

From the corner the ball was passed to Whittaker, whose shot from outside the box flew just over.

At the other end Cooper did well to save from Windass, from the left hand-side of the penalty area, following a superb pass from Wednesday’s midfield lynchpin Barry Bannan.

As Argyle grew in confidence, Azaz let fly from distance, hitting a bouncing ball on the rise and producing another good save from Dawson.

Azaz was again denied by Dawson in the 67th minute as he tried to place the ball past the keeper, who made a superb one-handed stop, diving to his left to keep out the goal-bound shot.

Argyle surged further ahead following a lightning counter with Azaz drawing defenders before sliding a pass to Hardie, who finished with a low, first-time strike from just inside the box after 76 minutes.