FA Cup: Pilgrims To Learn Fate

The first round of the F.A Cup never fails to throw up a shock, and November heralds a first round that throws Football League teams into the bowl for the first time this season.

Over the past five years, Plymouth have only fallen at the first hurdle once, and last drew a non-league opponent in 2013/14, taking on Lincoln City at Sincil Bank. While that venue does not offer the same grit as the likes of Hednesford or Tamworth, it was still a journey like no other. On that occasion the Pilgrims were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw, demolishing the Imps 5-0 in the replay.

The last occasion that Plymouth did draw visit one of the more obscure teams – or a team at least two tiers below them – in the first round, it was a traumatic event to forget. Then of League Two, Plymouth drew sixth-tier Dorchester away. Billed as a cross-county rivalry between Devonshire and Dorset, a tie treated like a formality by Plymouth was treated like a war by Dorchester.

As it was, defeat would be forthcoming, marking the lowest ebb of a dark period for the club. In many ways, it was a spur to improved form, and the exact kick up the proverbial that a club in turmoil needed. Thereafter, survival – and better fortunes in the FA Cup first round – would be realised.

The first-round draw is always an intriguing spectacle. A mixture of obscure teams, usually as low as the seventh or eighth tier, share a bowl with a third-tier giant that has fallen from grace. In that respect, Sunderland represent perhaps the biggest scalp, and this is reflected by current outright F.A Cup betting odds, which price the Mackems as the third tier club that is 'likeliest' to win it (at 250/1).

In the fourth qualifying round there are several non-league teams with previous for upsetting the odds, all of whom Plymouth will be relieved to avoid. Amongst them are Blyth Spartans – perhaps one of the very worst to draw away for the Pilgrims. The Spartans came agonisingly close to eliminating a second-tier Birmingham side in January 2015.

All too often in recent years, league teams have been drawn away to non-league opposition, which can be just as disadvantageous in other ways. Invariably, such unfortunate teams face their opponents on a cold, dark night in front of television cameras, and fall to a dogged performance, with their defeat aided in no small part by a lethal atmosphere and medieval facilities.

At this stage, a home draw is like gold dust, and though Plymouth were fortunate enough to get one for the first round last year, the Pilgrims’ progress was destroyed in the next. Elimination came after a long-haul journey to Bradford, and geographic elements should never be underestimated. All that can be said in the meantime is that Plymouth’s fate is in the lap of the gods.

Memories of a trip to Anfield in January 2017 remain fresh enough to inspire the current crop of Pilgrims. Where Plymouth Argyle is concerned, there is still an opportunity to forge a reputation for progress against the odds. Doing so successfully creates the element of fear amongst the opposition, which teams in the lower echelons of the Football League need, not just to survive, but to thrive and prosper.