The fixtures computer must have a sense of humour - a near 500 mile midweek trip is beyond most fans.

Plymouth Argyle v Derby County
Coca Cola Championship
Home Park - Plymouth
Tuesday 26th January 2010 - 7:45pm

Plymouth Argyle:

Current League Position: 23/24
Leading Scorer: Judge 5 (lg)
Manager: Paul Mariner
Kit home: Green & white shirts/White shorts
Kit away: Sky White shirts/green shorts
Last game: Crystal Palace 1 - 0 Plymouth Argyle (weekend game postponed)

Quotes from the manager:

Paul Mariner speaking to the BBC after losing to Crystal Palace;

"It was a difficult afternoon all round. It was difficult weather conditions for the players and the fans."

"We knew the game was going to be a close one and we had a lot of pressure in the second half without creating too much."

Current Argyle Squad:

No. Position. Player
1 Keeper Romain Larrieu (Club captain)
2 Midfield Karl Duguid (Vice-captain)
3 Midfield Jim Paterson
4 Midfield Carl Fletcher (Team captain)
6 Midfield Chris Clark
8 Midfield Jamie Mackie
9 Striker Steve MacLean
10 Striker Bradley Wright-Phillips
11 Defence Kári Árnason
14 Striker Rory Fallon
15 Defence Chris Barker
16 Defence David McNamee
17 Midfield Craig Noone
18 Defence Gary Sawyer
20 Midfield Luke Summerfield
21 Keeper David Stockdale (on loan from Fulham)
22 Defence Réda Johnson
24 Striker Ashley Barnes
25 Midfield Alan Judge (on loan from Blackburn Rovers)
26 Striker Alan Gow
27 Keeper Lloyd Saxton
28 Striker George Donnelly
29 Midfield Damien McCrory
31 Midfield Yoann Folly
32 Striker Joe Mason
34 Striker Liam Head
36 Midfield Yannick Bolasie

The Rams:

Quotes from the manager:

Nigel Clough speaking to the BBC after the the late winner against Doncaster:

"We didn't give a goal away, which we had in the previous home games. If you go into the last five or 10 minutes at 0-0, you've got a chance of nicking it and we gave ourselves that chance."

"If our decision making in the final third had been a bit better, we would probably have got something a bit earlier."

"We want to improve in the league and try and get to halfway and we can do that in tandem with a cup run as well."

Current Derby Squad:

No. Position. Player
1 Keeper Stephen Bywater
2 Defender Paul Connolly
3 Defender James McEveley
4 Midfielder Paul Green
5 Defender Miles Addison (vice-captain)
6 Defender Dean Leacock
7 Midfielder Lee Croft
8 Midfielder Robbie Savage (captain)
9 Striker Rob Hulse
10 Midfielder Kris Commons
11 Midfielder Gary Teale
12 Striker Chris Porter
13 Keeper Saul Deeney
14 Defender Shaun Barker
15 Striker Luke Varney
16 Midfielder Stephen Pearson
17 Defender Jake Buxton
18 Midfielder Ben Pringle
19 Midfielder Lee Johnson (from Bristol City until 31 Jan 2010)
20 Striker Steve Davies
21 Midfielder Dean Moxey
22 Midfielder Arnaud Mendy
23 Defender Mark O'Brien
26 Midfielder Lee Hendrie
28 Defender Mitchell Hanson
29 Striker Greg Mills
33 Striker D. J. Campbell (from Leicester City until 31 Jan 2010)
34 Keeper Ross Atkins
35 Striker Callum Ball
-- Defender Nicky Hunt (from Bolton until end of 09/10 season)

What the Bookies think:

Home Win: 6/4
Draw: 9/4
Away win: 9/5
First Scorer: Rory Fallon, Jamie Mackie, Rob Hulse, Chris Porter, DJ Cambell - All 6/1

Information for travelling fans:

Driving: it's a long way - 240 miles to be accurate. Best route is the A38 south to the M6. Take the M6 to it's junction with the M5 then take the M5 south towards Bristol. You then pick up the A38 again).

On entering Plymouth, turn left onto the A386 towards Plymouth and when this road forks keep to the left. After a mile or so you will see the ground on your left. The ground is well signposted  

Parking: There's a large car park at the ground that takes an age to get out of at the end of the game. You can park on the streets if you go past the ground but this is fairly limited. 

Drinking: Footballgroundguide.com recommends the Britannia, a Wetherspoons that is about ten minutes walking from the ground but warns that security staff takes a dim view of football chants. If you get there in plenty of time, you can get a drink in the town itself around the Hoe.

Mick’s Prediction:

We're not playing well - but we're getting results. The best thing you can say about the Doncaster game is that Jay McEveley scored a cracking goal that prevented a midweek replay in Doncaster.

On the positives though - the defence looks to be getting more organised. Injuries have caused chaos in the middle of defence and in an ideal world we'd probably have Dean Leacock & Shaun Barker paired there.

We have instead Jake Buxton as a mainstay and to be fair to the player he wasn't bought to fulfil that role. He can't be faulted for effort but his lack of pace means he wil be exposed time and time again by pacier players.

With the Forest game coming up that is a concern but it should also be a concern against Argyle who had Saturday off.

Given that the game was off because of a waterlogged pitch however, it's likely to be heavy going tonight so it might suit Buxton.

Micks Team:

Bywater, Hunt, Barker, Buxton, Moxey, Green, Savage, Johnson, Pearson, Campbell, Porter

Subs: McEveley, Deeney, Teale, Pringle, Anderson, Hulse, Commons, Davies

Prediction:

Plymouth 1-1 Derby

Photo: Action Images

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