Plymouth Argyle Celebrate Historic FA Cup Success
Plymouth Argyle produced the biggest shock in the FA Cup this season after seeing off the challenge of Premier League leaders Liverpool on a dramatic afternoon at Home Park.
The Vertu Motors-backed side had secured an impressive away win at Brentford in the third round to set up the Liverpool tie, which took place with Argyle currently sitting bottom of the EFL Championship – albeit having scored a first win under Miron Muslic a week earlier.
Although Liverpool made a number of changes to their starting line-up, a side featuring the likes of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Harvey Elliott and Joe Gomez took to the field for the game in front of a sell-out crowd hoping to cheer Plymouth on to the fifth round for the first time since the 2006/07 season.
Both sides had chances to score in what was a scrappy first half of play but it was Plymouth who were given the opportunity to go ahead early in the second half when Elliott was penalised for handball and the home side were handed a penalty.
Having scored twice in the win over West Brom, Ryan Hardie stepped up to send Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way and send the Argyle fans into raptures at the possibility of an upset.
Hardie almost doubled the lead when he struck the post shortly afterwards but as the game wore on, the pressure was from Liverpool as the Premier League side looked to draw level.
First up, Jota fired in an effort from outside the box that Conor Hazard did well to keep out and then, in the closing seconds, the ‘keeper was able to tip a header from Darwin Nunez over the bar.
The final whistle led to wild celebrations in the stands, with Plymouth now waiting to discover who awaits in the next round.