It's been a week of surprises at Home Park as Argyle prepare for their most difficult Christmas and New Year programme in many years. After the unwelcome 3-0 defeat at Crewe, manager Bobby Williamson said: 'They scored three goals, but I can't believe we didn't get one at all.' It was a match Argyle needed to get points from, as the holiday schedule shows them no favours. Next out of the hat was the club's worst kept secret, that Scottish international striker Stevie Crawford wanted to return to Scotland for family reasons. The jury had been out for some time on the Scotsman, who most fans believe they haven't seen the best of. Argyle's base of strikers has been whittled down to just one, now that Ian Stonebridge and Nathan Lowndes have left, Steven Milne is sidelined with a long-term injury, Blair Sturrock is out of favour, while Marino Keith has yet to make his mark. That leaves Mickey Evans as the only one, bar injury, certain to start against Derby County tomorrow. If Crawford does move on, a fee of anything between £100,000 and £250,000 could be banked for a player who cost nothing, but rates a £3,000 per week pay packet. Williamson's dilemma is to put on the field players who can score goals. If Crawford leaves, or a replacement is brought in to back up Mickey Evans, it could give Argyle a fillip. Lee Makel appears to have recovered from injury, and with Tony Capaldi and David Norris smarting at being substituted at Crewe and Steve Adams, Keith Lasley, David Friio, Lee Hodges and Paul Wotton all fit and raring to go, Williamson may revert to a 4-4-2 formation, once he decides who to leave out. The dampener at Crewe was quickly forgotten when the FA Cup third round draw was made, with Premier Division title chasers Everton the visitors to Home Park on Saturday January 8. Many will remember the last time the pair met almost 16 years ago, when Argyle drew the home tie 1-1, with Argyle youth coach Sean McCarthy the scorer, before losing the Goodison Park replay 4-0. There was further good news when the BBC decided to show the game live with a 5.30pm kick off. This will net the club £150,000. Derby County arrive at Home Park on the back of a 3-0 win over neighbours Nottingham Forest, where leading scorer Gizegorz Rasiak scored twice. The Polish striker has scored eight goals in 14 appearances, Tommy Smith, who also scored against Forest, has six, with German midfielder Marco Reich and Marcus Tudgay finding the target five times each. Derby have one of the youngest central defenders in the league in Tom Huddleston, still only 17, and one of the smallest goalkeepers in Lee Camp at just 5ft 11in. The last time Argyle met Derby was in January 1999, going down 3-0 at home in an FA Cup tie. Prior to that, Argyle's last victory over the Rams was in March 1986 when goals from John Clayton (2), Darren Rowbotham and Kevin Hodges saw Argyle to a 4-1 victory in the old Division Three, now Coca-Cola League One.

Argyle's youth team battled through to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday, beating Darlington 1-0. Crewe Alexandra, 4-2 winners over Stockport County, are next up. The tie is due to be played by Saturday January 22. Saltash youngsters Ryan Dickson and Brinton Nute, together with Chris Reski from Fowey were in the Argyle squad, with another Cornish youngsters, St Just's John Hoyles, grabbing the 59th minute winner.

Argyle Ladies had a new fan on Wednesday, when boss Williamson turned up at HMS Drake to watch them beat the Royal Navy 4-0, with goals from Katie Middleton (2), Louisa Stentiford-Cook and Leah Christian. Argyle's hopes of entertaining Reading on Sunday, look to have been dashed and the girls may not be in action again until mid-January. Fixtures - Coca-Cola Championship: Sat Dec 18 Derby County (H) 3pm; U18s: Sat Dec 18 Newport County (A) 11am; U16s: Sat Dec 18 Swansea City (A) 11am.