Southend United, who amazingly had to play in their white away shirts as referee Paul Taylor decided that Argyle's dark green shirts clashed with Blues dark blue shirts. And not for the first time Blues had to play in their away strip at Roots Hall.

Blues boss Rob Newman made one change from the side that knocked Luton out of the cup Saturday giving 19-year-old West Ham midfielder, Steven Clark, who's on a month's loan from West Ham his Football League debut with Barrington Belgrave dropping to the bench.

Plymouth, who are unbeaten away from home in the league this season came to Roots Hall with a five man midfield which was solid and made it very difficult for Blues to break down.

However, in the opening exchanges Blues had their chances as a Kevin Maher 25 yard effort going wide and then some good work from Bramble found Searle on the left who in turn played the ball into the box for Mark Rawle, who almost got a lucky break but the ball didn't fall for the Blues striker and the chance had gone.

Plymouth had their first chance on nine minutes when Bent turned past Searle to cross into the box for Hodges but McSweeney got in to block Hodges shot.

Steven Clark then got into the game on the quarter hour mark when his one-two with Bramble saw McGlinchey clear for a corner. Then Blues best chance of the game came a minute later when Maher's ball from the centre circle over the top of the Pilgrims defence put Rawle through on goal but the Blues joint scorer couldn't get the ball fully under control and Larrieu in the Plymouth goal came out to save.

On 22 minutes Rawle's ball out to Clark saw the West Ham loanee skip past McGlinchey to cross low into the box but no Blues attacker was there to get on the end of the cross and the chance had gone. Seven minutes later another superb run by Clark took him into the Plymouth area but a superb diving tackle by Paul Wotton once again saved the day for Plymouth. Then Maher's corner on 31 minutes was superbly met by the head of Leon Cort but Cort's header just cleared the Plymouth bar.

Darryl Flahavan found himself yellow carded on 37 minutes when he disputed the fact that he handled the ball outside the box and then on 43 minutes Blues conceded the only goal of the game. McGlinchey's left wing cross was met by the head of Steve Adams who from 12 yards out looped his header over Flahavan and into the roof of the net to give Plymouth a one-nil half-time lead.

It was going to be an uphill struggle for Blues now in the second-half as Plymouth packed their midfield and defence with Blues having the majority of the second-half possession but were unable to turn that possession into clear cut chances.

Plymouth were happy to attack on the break and Wills 25 yard drive on 49 minutes was saved well by Flahavan. Two minutes later Johnson found Thurgood on the edge of the box who's chip found the head of Leon Cort but the ball flew over the bar and out for a goal-kick.

Mark Rawle found himself in the book for a foul on David Worrall and then Searle found Clark who's 20-yard chip just cleared the bar. Then the Blues man-of-the-match Steven Clark skipped past the challenge of Jason Bent and David Worrall only to see his chip into the box cleared by the Pilgrims defence. Clark then found himself in the referee's book for a foul on Jason Bent.

On 71 minutes Newman introduced Roscoe Dsane for his Blues debut for Leon Johnson up front and surprisingly moving Bramble out to wide left. Two minutes into his debut Dsane collected the ball to the left of the box and found Rawle backing him up but Rawle's attempted drive from the left of the area deflected off Wotton for a corner.

However, a minute later Plymouth almost doubled their advantage when Wills 30 yard drive smashed off the bar and out to safety. Bramble's left wing cross on 77 minutes was cleared by Coughlan for a corner. From the resulting flag kick Maher found the head of Dsane who in turn found Rawle but Rawle's effort from a tight angle at the far post went into the side netting.

On 79 minutes Dsane's cross came back off the crossbar and out to Rawle and then Rawle's header came off the knee of Thurgood but out for a goal kick. In the final minutes Newman brought Webb on for Whelan leaving just McSweeney, Cort and Searle at the back in order to try and get a point but Plymouth held on for three minutes of injury time to secure their first ever victory at Roots Hall.



This headline was still seven months away after they left south east Essex