Town's cup joy as Argyle sunk

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 0

THE FA Cup gods smiled down on the Magpies yesterday evening as they pulled off arguably the biggest result in their history by defeating Plymouth Argyle in front of 3,196 at the Avenue Stadium.

Conor Hourihane’s controversial sending off made life a little easier for Dorchester but their performance was top-class from start to finish with loanee Jake Gosling grabbing the winner just after half-time.

Playing in his last game before returning to the Pilgrims’ bitter rivals Exeter City, the midfielder converted from close range right in front of the Magpies’ faithful, making it a picture-perfect moment for ESPN’s live television cameras and the millions of viewers watching at home.

Having watched his side surrender their 100 per cent home record against Tonbridge Angels the previous weekend, Phil Simkin made three changes to his starting XI with Neil Martin, Ashley Nicholls and Ben Watson replacing Arran Pugh, Jamie Reid and Jordan Chiedozie, who all dropped to the bench.

Nick Crittenden, Jamie Symes and Sam Malsom were also named among the substitutes along with Alan Walker-Harris, who was making his first appearance in a match-day squad since breaking a leg back in March.

As for Plymouth, they were without their influential skipper Darren Purse. The ex-Birmingham City defender, who scored for the Blues in the League Cup final back in 2001, missed out due to a toe injury.

Both teams entered the clash off the back of disappointing form with the Magpies having lost four of their last five in the league and the Pilgrims having lost their last two, so it was no surprise to see a frantic opening.

Driving rain at kick-off just added to the tension as both sides grappled for possession in a bid to get off to the brighter start.

The cut-and-thrust nature of the proceedings and the slippery surface soon saw Hourihane enter the book on four minutes for a poor challenge on Garcia and just five minutes later he was off.

This time the man in the middle cautioned the midfielder for taking a free-kick before he had blown the whistle – a decision that was met with complete and utter disbelief on all sides of the ground.

For Town though it was a gift and in the exchanges that followed they continued to rattle their opponents with their work-rate and no-nonsense approach.

However, even with 10, Argyle still had more than enough quality and on 24 minutes they nearly broke through when Onismor Bhasera beat Mark Jermyn for pace and fired a shot into the side netting.

That was a major warning for the Magpies but they responded immediately with Charlie Clough getting on the end of a corner, only to see his header strike the base of the far post.

It was compulsive viewing but as the half drew on it was the Pilgrims that began asking more of the questions with Curtis Nelson heading over at the far post and Jamie Lowry testing Jason Matthews from distance.

The last highlight of the half then came when Rene Gilmartin spilled an effort from Jake Gosling at the other end as the Magpies went on to reach half-time still on level terms.

It was all shaping up nicely for the hosts and four minutes into the second half it got even better when Jermyn pulled back Neil Martin’s deep cross for Gosling to fire high into the roof of the net from 10 yards.

Town were in dreamland and moments later they went close again when Jamie Gleeson broke into the box, only to lash his shot high and wide.

It was all Dorchester now as they went in search for the killer second while the Pilgrims looked to spring a surprise on the counter-attack.

Clough had a header saved from a free-kick on 69 minutes before Bhasera replied with a cross-cum-shot which Jason Matthews did well to push over as the game remained on a knife-edge.

Whenever the Magpies got a set-piece around the Plymouth box they looked a threat and with 15 minutes remaining it was that man Clough that was denied again, this time by a smart save from Gilmartin.

Gosling then fired over as the tie moved into the last 10 minutes with the home fans biting their nails and counting down the seconds to the final whistle.

Plymouth continued to press but it was the Magpies’ day as they held out in the closing stages to reach the second round for the first time in 31 years.

Magpies: Matthews, Jermyn, Smeeton, Clough, Walker, Gleeson (Symes 86), Gosling, Nicholls, Watson, Garcia, Mar-tin. Subs not used: Walker-Harris, Pugh, Crittenden, Malsom, Reid, Chiedozie.

Plymouth: Gilmartin, Berry, Blanchard, Nelson, S Griffiths, Hourihane, Lennox (Young 58), Gurrieri, Bhasera, R Griffiths (Cowan-Hall 74), Lowry (Feeney 67). Subs not used: Cole, Richards, Madjo, Harvey.