Can Plymouth Argyle make it into the third round of the FA Cup in 11 years when the entertain 13th placed Conference Premier outfit Welling United at Home Park.
The last time Argyle made it to the third round of the FA Cup was in 2002 when Paul Sturrock was in charge. Plymouth had beaten Bury 3-0 in the first round at Gigg Lane. The second round was also an away fixture at Stockport. the team had scored three goals on their travels to win 3-0. A third round tie was in order at home to Dagenham & Redbridge. The final result of the fixture was a 2-2 draw. A replay was needed to find out who would progress onto the fourth round of the FA Cup. Unfortunately that was the end of the Pilgrims cup run as the lost the corresponding fixture 2-0.
Argyle have been knocked out of the first round of the cup for the past two seasons. In season 2011-12 Stourbridge defeated the Devon club by successfully winning 2-0 in the reply following a 3-3 draw at Home Park. Fans were very confident the season after as Argyle were drawn against yet another non league club in Dorchester. Argyle, reduced to 10 men in the early stages of the game with Conor Hourihane serving a second yellow, were yet again defeated following a 1-0 defeat. This season however Argyle have beaten a non league side in the first round. Argyle were drawn away at Lincoln and drew 0-0 in the fixture. The replay at Home Park saw Plymouth thrash the Conference side 5-0.
Welling United made up of part time players had their best spell in the FA Cup reaching the proper first round on six separate occasions knocking out football league club and rivals Gillingham in one year. Based in Kent, United have also reached the third round of the cup but lost 1-0 to Blackburn in 1989. This current season Welling have played in the FA Cup qualifying round to participate in the first round of the FA Cup. The Conference South Champions of 2012-13 beat Brislington 1-0. They then beat Luton Town 2-1 to now be in the second round.
Jake Cole will make his sixth cup appearance this season at Home Park taking over the goalkeeping duties from Luke McCormick. Jake Cole has started every cup game this season whilst Luke contributes to SkyBet League Two. Also missing for Argyle are Caolan Lavery and Tope Obadeyi. Northern Ireland 21 international is on loan to the Pilgrims from Sheffield Wednesday. The League One club are not allowing Caolan to take any part in the resulting fixture. Bury loanee Obadeyi will also be unavailable to manager John Sheridan through a hamstring injury. Tope suffered the injury in the first half of the defeat to Burton Albion last Saturday. Former Argyle trialist Kieron Hugh-Mason is unavailable for player-manager Jamie Day as he is on loan to Concord Rangers. After making their debuts last week, Callum Webb, Sam Corne, Josh Ekim and Artisde Bassele could all start for Welling United at Home Park. Fraser Franks comes back into the squad following serving a one match suspension last weekend.
Available:- Jake Cole, Luke McCormick, Curtis Nelson, Maxime Blanchard, Jamie Richards, Neal Trotman, Guy Branston, Paul Wotton, Durrell Berry, Andre Blackman, Jamie Reckord, Ben Purrington, Andres Gurrieri, Conor Hourihane, Romuald Boco, Hamza Bencherif, Luke Young, Ryan Lane, Lewis Alessandra, Reuben Reid, Isaac Vassell, Paul Hayes.
Doubtful: - Dominic Blizzard (thigh injury)
Unavailable: - Matt LeCointe (knee injury), Marvin Morgan (shoulder injury), Nick Chadwick (on loan to Tamworth until January 2014), Caolan Lavery (cuptied), Tope Obadeyi (hamstring injury), Tyler Harvey (on loan to Salisbury City)
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