Argyle had the better of the first half but failed to make the most of their opportunities. Their wastefulness was punished on the stroke of half-time when Billy Mitchell fired Wednesday in front.
The Owls improved after the interval and grew stronger as the contest wore on, with late goals from Davis Keillor-Dunn and Di’Shon Bernard sealing their first home win since October 17.
“It feels amazing,” Challinor said. “When you take on a new job, especially your first home league game, you picture how you want it to look. It’s never going to be smooth, but to come here, score three goals and keep a clean sheet is really pleasing.
“At times it was probably more luck than judgement, certainly in the first half with some of the opportunities we gave away. I’m delighted for the players because they’ve really bought into what we’ve asked of them. Some of it has taken them outside their comfort zones and sometimes you need that reinforcement for it to really hit home.”
Despite the convincing scoreline, Challinor admitted his side still have plenty of room for improvement.
“I think we’ve got loads to do,” he said. “You can talk about earning the right to play, but sometimes that takes 10 minutes, sometimes 60 minutes and sometimes you never earn it at all.
“Plymouth are really good at asking questions of you and, in the first half, I don’t think we dealt with them well enough. We needed to compete better, win first contacts, pick up second balls and track runners. We probably got away with it at times.
“The players were honest about that. We were much, much better in the second half. I thought we handled their threats better and the game started to look more like what we’d want it to look like.
“It shows the importance of set-pieces at any level, but especially at this level. To score from two of them was huge and Dish’s goal was the icing on the cake.”
Challinor admitted he was frustrated by Wednesday’s first-half display, believing his side were second best for long periods as Plymouth repeatedly threatened.
“You have to compete and outrun the opposition,” he said. “We want to smooth things out if we can, but every week you’re playing against a team trying to stop you doing what you want to do. Sometimes the game doesn’t look how you’d like it to. That’s just football.
“When that’s the case, you have to find a way. That’s a big saying around this football club and around this city. Find a way to dig in and win. If you can win games in different ways, then you’re in a really good place as a football team.
“We’d all love it to look a certain way, but we’re not entitled enough to think that’s always going to happen. We still need to do the basics better, compete for second balls and show more composure when we have possession.
“Some would argue it never really got to the stage where the game looked exactly how we wanted it to. We had to beat the stuffing out of them a little bit. It was probably only after the third goal that things settled down and everyone could relax.”
There was also controversy in the first half when Plymouth forward Ronan Curtis escaped with a yellow card after catching Jamal Lowe with a high boot, much to the frustration of the Hillsborough crowd.
“It was definitely chest high,” Challinor said. “You’re always going to appeal for it, and I’m sure Tom Cleverley would have done exactly the same if the situation was reversed.
“What constitutes a red card? If it catches him on the jaw instead, does that change things?
“Did Ronan mean it? Nobody will ever know. I’d probably suggest not because the ball is dropping over his shoulder. But if one of our players had done that, I’d certainly have feared the worst.
“Thankfully it didn’t have a huge impact on the outcome of the game.”
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