Gary on the Run

...and as is often the case with a tournament so steeped in history, thoughts turn to past competition glories. 

In 2007, managed by Ian Holloway, Argyle achieved the club's best FA cup run of the last 30 years when he managed to steer his side to the quarter finals where it could be said his team were on the wrong side of the result. Holloway’s Championship squad dominated their Premier League rivals of the day Watford only to suffer a cruel and disheartening 1-0 defeat. Current squad members who were in the side then are Luke McCormick and Gary Sawyer, with the latter looking back at the game as the one that got away.

“That’s one I’ll look back on and be a bit gutted with," said Gary, "because I feel we should have won that game really. They [Watford] were only a league above us but we definitely had the better of them that day it’s a shame we didn’t come through it.

“They didn’t really have anything other than [the goal], but it was just a dagger straight through you. The Premier League side got a bit more of the luck than we did but their keeper [Ben Foster] had a good day.

“It’s a frustrating one for us, especially in the quarter final of the FA cup. You’re really going towards it then so it’s a shame.”

Reaching the quarter finals of one of the country’s biggest competitions does not happen very often in many players’ careers, so was a day Sawyer looks back on fondly. “It was unbelievable," he says, "one of the best games I’ve played in. That was a great, great day in my career.

“They were a good side so I won’t say anything but we played really well that day it’s just unfortunate we didn’t take that extra step. That’s just a game that seemed to get away from us, we should never have lost that game.”

Experiencing that displeasing feeling will be something the players and Luke and Gary in particular will not want to repeat as they hope to take this Argyle side as far as they can, keeping the momentum going to have a good cup run.