AFTER being held to a draw at Anfield in the FA Cup third round, Liverpool have to travel to Home Park to face a Plymouth side fancying themselves to cause another upset.

We spoke to Stan Beal from the Argyle Fans’ Trust, once again, to gauge the feeling in the South West.

Firstly, what can travelling Liverpool fans expect from the city of Plymouth?

Plymouth city centre was rebuilt after the war — and it’s just the sort of Brutalist concrete sprawl that seemed such a good idea in the optimistic post-war era but looks like less of one now. The views from the Hoe across the Devon coastline are very nice and the ground is located in a big public park, but it might be too cold to enjoy it!

The Argyle away support were great at Anfield, will we see similar at Home Park?

Not sure — the atmosphere at Anfield was one of the best I’ve heard from an Argyle crowd, and there’s likely to be a number of fair-weather supporters in the home end in the replay. That being said, we usually make a lot of noise when there’s a big crowd and fans who travelled to Liverpool will get priority tickets so the atmosphere is likely to be better than most clubs in the lower reaches of English football.

Derek Adams said Liverpool would be welcomed to ‘the real world’ after the last game, what did you make of these comments?

It’s always tough for a team like Liverpool to come down to a lower league club. However, Home Park was redeveloped when we were in the higher divisions — it’s bigger and has better facilities than most grounds in League Two. We’ve spent a lot of money on the pitch and it’s a nice surface — good for the technical style of play we have most weeks (but probably not this one).

The Plymouth boss has already admitted he will go defensive again in the replay, is that something fans are happy with?

I’d rather play defensively and frustrate Liverpool than attack and get beat. A lot of pundits, like (former Liverpool players) Michael Owen and Steve McManaman were criticising us for our defensive style of play, but you can’t argue with a successful result away at one of England’s best clubs. We threatened after bringing on the pacy Craig Tanner for the last 20 minutes at Anfield — we can do the same again at Home Park.

Do fans believe there could be an upset on the cards?

Yes. We’ve come off the back of an impressive 4-2 win over admittedly less impressive opposition in Stevenage. In the original tie we relished playing the spoiler: defending superbly and getting into the heads of Liverpool’s more gifted players. Liverpool didn’t create many clear-cut chances against us and many Argyle fans think we can shut the door at the back and nick a goal on the break. We’re especially optimistic as we’re not expecting Liverpool to play a strong team, with their fixture congestion.

Finally, once again, can we have a prediction for the game?

I think we’ll put up a good fight but narrowly lose, 1-0 to Liverpool.

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