Greens on Screen

Greens on Screen started its life in 1999 before many of the football sites that we are familiar with today, including Plymouth Argyle's own official site. Greens on Screen is dedicated to the sights, sounds and history of Plymouth Argyle Football club. It is owned and run by the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive, a charity dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and display of the heritage of our great football club.

The site owes its existence to Steve Dean.Without Steve's dedication and commitment for over 25 years, GoS would not exist and be the valued and loved resource for all football fans that it is today. The site is truly the envy of many clubs, and we owe a huge debt to Steve for his tireless work, and continued support behind the scenes.

Greens on Screen's first page was published in January 1999. Its early purpose was to bring Plymouth Argyle a little closer to those unable to see their team, and whilst it has changed a great deal over the years, its core themes - sights and sounds for Westcountry exiles - still stand. The site was very lucky to take on the content of Trevor Scallan's Semper Viridis in the summer of 2007, and in 2009 launched GoS-DB, a wealth of facts and figures from PAFC's history. A year later, we embarked on a complete history of Argyle, with much-valued contributions from chapter authors. Greens on Screen was taken over by its new custodians, The Argyle Archive, in 2024.

Greens on Screen is an amateur website and proud of it. It is run by a team of volunteers from the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive (Argyle Archive). Without the hard work and much-valued contributions of these volunteers, running the site would not be possible. Greens on Screen is self-taught and as a result, a little bit quirky.

Greens on Screen remains advertisement free, which means we are grateful for the generous support of our donors and the work of our volunteers to help keep it free of promotions. If you would like to support the work of Greens on Screen, please consider donating to the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive.

GoS's sole aim is to be a service to fellow supporters, and we look forward to continuing to celebrate Argyle's history for many years to come.

Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive.
April 2024

Argyle 2, Darlington 1

Saturday, January 28, 1984 FA Cup, 4th round

The following article has been extracted from Harley Lawer's excellent book: "Argyle Classics" published by Green Books, Plymouth (ISBN: 0951381709), and is reproduced with his kind permission.

John Uzzell congratulated by Andy Rogers after a rare headed goal to keep Argyle on the FA Cup trail.

Sunday Independent:

A new pair of boots worked wonders for goal-starved Gordon Staniforth and his tiring, frustrated Plymouth Argyle team mates. All the signs pointed to John Hore’s men being forced to pack their bags for the long trek north for a replay as they laboured for 81 minutes to make any real impact against their Fourth Division opponents.

Then someone pointed our that Argyle had left it late in every previous tie and why should this game be any different? It might have been dismissed as a cynical remark if at that precise moment the ball hadn’t finished up nestling snugly in the back of the Darlington net!

Kevin Hodges nodded the ball to Staniforth, lurking a couple of yards clear of the Darlington penalty area. The little man instantly took aim and his low, pin-pointed drive arrowed through a row of defenders and past Fred Barber’s despairing dive.

Now at long last, nothing could stop Argyle charging through to the last sixteen of the FA Cup for only the second time in their history.

"I’ve certainly never reached the fifth round before," said a delighted Staniforth. it’s been so frustrating for me over the last few games that I have kept changing my boots hoping it would change my luck.

"I’ve tried three different pairs and today experimented with new ones. I think I’ll stick with them now for the next round ..."

Staniforth paid tribute to Kevin Hodges for setting up his chance. "It was such a nice touch on that I could get my head down and smack it first time. I was pleased to see the ball go in because I did think the ‘keeper was going to get to it."

The goal was Staniforth’s first since Boxing Day and only his fifth of the season. It came as a shattering blow to a Darlington side that tied Argyle up into so many knots that they never looked capable of unravelling enough to succeed . Just one Darlington goal was enough to torment home fans. Chris Harrison deliberately obstructed Kevin Todd to concede a free kick. Todd took up his place in the middle and moved in unchecked, to steer a simple shot past Geoff Crudgington after Dave McLean lobbed the ball in at his feet.

The game was 35 minutes old and Argyle still hadn’t forced a corner and had tested Barber at full stretch only once to parry a drive from Hodges.

But five minutes later they were level. Gordon Nisbet’s free kick into the heart of the Darlington goalmouth was headed on by Staniforth. As the heads went up to clear. John Uzzell beat them all to the ball by nodding it into the roof of the net off Barber’s outstretched fingers.

Argyle - Crudgington, Nisbet, Uzzell, Harrison, Smith, Cooper, Hodges, Phillips, Tvnan, Staniforth, Rogers. Sub: Pearson.

Darlington - Barber, Craggs, Johnson, Honour, Smith, Barton, Cartwright, Todd, Gilbert, Walsh, McLean. Sub: Davies.

Scorers: Argyle - Uzzell, Staniforth : Darlington - Todd.

Referee: Mr. R. G. Milford (Bristol)

Attendance: 8918.