John Sheridan hailed striker Reuben Reid after he became the first Plymouth player to score a hat-trick in a Devon derby at Exeter in their comfortable 3-1 win.
Reid opened the scoring in a dominant first half for the Pilgrims, only for Arron Davies to level on the stroke of half-time.But after Matt Oakley gave away a needless penalty, Reid regained the lead for Argyle, who were reduced to 10 men when Olly Lee was sent off for a late tackle.
And the striker, hobbling after taking a knock by this stage, sealed his hat-trick with a scrambled third in the 71st minute to seal the win.
"Reuben came off as he was sore," Sheridan said. "I was about to take him off anyway. He will be a legend at Plymouth now scoring a hat-trick in a derby.
"If you do that people will remember you. Reuben will get all the plaudits but it was a very good team effort. It is great to get three points against a very good footballing side.
"It is for the supporters and bragging rights. We fully deserved the victory as well. Most important thing is three points and to win it the way we did was excellent. We went down to 10 men and obviously you are a bit worried. But full respect to the players, they put a right shift in.
"We were excellent for 35 minutes in the first half. I had a go at them at half-time for allowing Exeter to get back in the game. But they responded really well and full credit to the all of the players.
"Our shape and everything about us was good. And then for some reason we switched off a little bit at the end of the first half. So you go in disappointed and angry but at the same time I was pleased with how we were playing."