COLCHESTER United will hope to catch FA Cup quarter-finalists Plymouth Argyle off their guard at Home Park tonight.The Devon club are buzzing at the moment, and it has nothing to do with their form in the Championship - they are stuck in mid-table, with no fear of relegation and no prospects of promotion.

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United will hope to catch FA Cup quarter-finalists Plymouth Argyle off their guard at Home Park tonight.

The Devon club are buzzing at the moment, and it has nothing to do with their form in the Championship - they are stuck in mid-table, with no fear of relegation and no prospects of promotion.

Instead, all talk is of the FA Cup. Ian Holloway's men beat Championship leaders Derby County 2-0 in the fourth round on Saturday, and they have now been blessed with a home tie against Premiership basement club Watford in the quarter-finals.

The U's have had short-term problems with their league form, after embarking on glamorous cup runs in recent years. They won promotion last season, despite going eight matches without a win, which straddled a dream fifth round tie at Chelsea.

Looking even further back, Steve Wignall's Colchester side of 1996-97 blew their chances of promotion from the old Division Three, after losing four games on the bounce before their Wembley appearance in the Auto Windscreens Shield final against Carlisle.

Pilgrims chairman Paul Stapleton is already looking towards the showdown with Watford. He enthused yesterday: “Watford are not used to winning this year, so we have got to just give it our best shot.

“We have got a chance, a great chance, of making it through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We drew with them twice last year and, at the time, I felt we could have won both games.

“We are in the media all the time, and it is not just a little paragraph. We are getting full page coverage now. I really want us to win every game, starting with Colchester.”

Plymouth will be trying to follow in the footsteps of West Brom by becoming the second side to double Colchester. A long-range cracker from rookie Luke Summerfield secured a 1-0 win for the Devon visitors at Layer Road on August 8. This was the U's first-ever home game in the Championship.