Swansea ended Plymouth’s six-match unbeaten home run with a 2-1 win as Wayne Rooney’s side slipped to 23rd in the Championship.
Swansea took a 44th-minute lead through Jay Fulton following Josh Tymon’s cross from the left, with Liam Cullen doubling their lead on the hour.
Mustapha Bundu pulled one back but Argyle were left looking up at all bar Hull in the table.
Tymon gave a hint of what was to come in the fourth minute with a near-post cross, which had to be turned away by recalled Hungarian international central defender Kornel Szucs.
Minutes later Argyle keeper Dan Grimshaw had to be quick off his line to grab a loose ball out of the air after a Swansea shot was deflected up invitingly inside the six-yard box for striker Florian Bianchini.
Tymon’s next cross from the left, after a superb give-and-go by Swansea playmaker Eom Ji-sung, flew across the face of goal, crying out for a finishing touch on 12 minutes.
Argyle countered with Adam Randell enabling Bundu to drive in from the right and let fly with a thumping shot, which needed to be deflected away for a 16th-minute corner.
Argyle’s on-loan Leeds midfielder Darko Gyabi was having an increasing influence on the game and followed up one incisive run from midfield with another, resulting in a booking for City midfielder Josh Key on 20 minutes.
The home side’s next best chance came from a 32nd-minute Randell free-kick headed over and wide by Bundu from distance.
Randell’s 38th-minute free-kick from 18 yards, following Ben Cabango’s foul on Callum Wright, was headed clear by a defender in the wall.
Bundu and Wright were prominent in the home side’s next attack, after Eom was tackled by Randell in the Argyle penalty area.
He sent Bundu away down the right and when he turned inside on the touchline his pass put Wright in on goal, but his first-time ball into the area was easily cleared by the resolute Swans’ defence.
The opener came when Brendan Galloway’s clearance fell invitingly to Fulton, who finished clinically from 10 yards, giving home keeper Grimshaw little chance with the first shot on target in the first half.
Eom went close with a superb 56th-minute shot from the left which flew just wide from 20 yards.
City increased their when Cullen slid in to sweep home at the far post following a measured cross from Myles Peart-Harris from the right.
The visitors were unlucky not to go further ahead from another Peart-Harris cross minutes later but Fulton just failed to get a finishing touch as Argyle’s defence was again caught cold.
Plymouth pulled a goal back in the 79th minute when Bundu headed home from close range after Szucs’ header came back off the bar following Randell’s corner.
