MIRON Muslic has praised the ‘courage and character’ of his Plymouth Argyle squad in the wake of his side’s impending relegation from the Sky Bet Championship.

Although victorious at Preston North End on Saturday, the Pilgrims’ fate was confirmed even before they kicked off at Deepdale, after it emerged Luton Town had secured a priceless home win against Coventry City.

Mathematically, Argyle are not yet effectively confirmed as down, but to stand a remote hope of survival, they will need to have a 15-goal swing from their final fixture this Saturday against Premier League-bound, Leeds United.

“When you receive the message just a few minutes before the final whistle of the game that you are relegated, it takes a lot of courage and character to get out and give your all one more - but we did that,” said Muslic, whose side have picked up 26 points from 20 Championship games since he took over.

“That shows the true spirit of this team and the character of the lads, because we had two obligations today. The first was towards us as a team and staff to give it all and protect and shield each other.

“The second was for the Green Army. Two thousand of them were here today to give it all one more time and they also knew about the result. It shows just the right character. I just feel in the end, we ran out of games. We took so many points over the last couple of weeks, and played well and strong but, unfortunately, it was not enough.

“We are all empty and heartbroken. It’s a hard hit for Plymouth Argyle. It’s a hard hit for us, all the fans, but once you are on the ground, the only opportunity is to get up and to try again. That’s the spirit we have.”