Wayne Rooney insisted he could pip Plymouth off the foot of the Championship after seeing his side surrender the lead three times in a nail-biting second half at Home Park.
The Plymouth manager was optimistic about the future, even as the pressure on him increased threefold as his run of games without a win extended to seven in the space of one game.
The former England captain watched in despair as goals from captain Lewis Gibson, Drako Gyabi and Mustapha Bundu were canceled out by Jonny Howson, Hayden Hackney and substitute Emmanuel Latte Lath.
While the result will undoubtedly increase uncertainty over his position at Home Park, Rooney is confident he has what it takes to turn his fortunes around. “It's very tight there and there are quite a few teams in a mini-league,” Rooney said.
'We are bottom of the league, but if we continue to perform as we have done in the last three games, I am sure we will win games soon.
'I don't have a problem with that because it's a strange competition, but it's not where we want to be. My focus will be on making sure we are not in the bottom three at the end of the season and we know one game can change that.”
Reflecting on the result, the 39-year-old added that he was frustrated that his team could not secure all three points.
'It's frustrating. Looking back on the game I thought we were excellent in the first half, both in and out of possession,” he told BBC Radio Devon.
'I'm a little disappointed that we didn't do better on two of the three goals. I think we were a bit naive.”
After a shaky start, Argyle dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead after 38 minutes.
Midfielder Rami Al Hajj played the ball alongside Brendan Galloway whose cross was headed in by defender Gibson for his first goal in Plymouth colours.
The lead could have been doubled before half-time, but Sol Brynn made an excellent point-blank save to thwart Bundu.
Rooney had known he could rely on Boro manager Michael Carrick to inspire the Teessiders to better things after the break, and so it proved.
Whatever the former Manchester United colleague said worked and Argyle's lead was erased after 50 minutes as Boro improved.
Liverpool loanee Ben Doak's cross was only half cleared and Howson's shot from 20 yards left Daniel Grimshaw stranded after being deflected off Hardie.
Rooney's side rallied to regain the lead on 72 minutes when Mumba combined with Bundu whose cross from close range was finished in style by Gyabi.
Back came Boro and Hackney equalized on 77 minutes when he smashed the ball home after Grimshaw kept his low shot.
Argyle hit back on 82 minutes when Bundu whipped in Nathanael Ogbeta's cross to send Home Park into delight.
Boro were not to be denied and unmarked Latte Lath struck the equalizer in the 84th minute after Rav Van Den Berg's header, leaving Rooney grimacing.
Carrick added: “I can't say I'm frustrated because we didn't do enough defensively without the ball to deserve something better.
“Our attacking play was decent, but we can't stop goals like this three times away from home and expect to come back with more than a draw.”
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