Premiership strugglers Watford are looking to their cup clash with Coca-Cola Championship outfit Plymouth as a respite from a difficult campaign. Adrian Boothroyd's side have failed to compete in the same way as the likes of Reading and Sheffield United - also promoted to the top flight last season - but club legend John Barnes is confident Adrian Boothroyd's team will overcome the Pilgrims, despite the unpredictability of the cup. "I would expect Watford to go through, even though an FA Cup tie is always a great leveller," he told PA Sport. "But if they had a choice of winning the cup or staying up then they would rather stay up." The furthest Plymouth have ever progressed in the competition was 23 years ago when they made it through to the semi-finals for the first time. Back in 1984, Argyle beat Derby on their way to facing Watford in the semi-finals at Villa Park. History has all but repeated itself again for Ian Holloway's men after they beat Derby last time out to set up their meeting with the Hornets. Geoff Crudgington was Plymouth's keeper in that match and he has backed the current Argyle team to go one better than his side, who went down 1-0. Now 55 and employed by the club as goalkeeping coach, Crudgington said: "If you look at the relative league positions, this team now is halfway up the Championship so they are in a better position than we were as a struggling [old] Third Division side. "We had some good players back then but you would hope this group of lads now will be even better."
