At the back Darren Barnard returned, John McDermott went onto his natural side resulting in Marcel Cas dropping to the bench. Tony Crane's suspension meant Simon Ford got a chance to impress, ahead of Greg Young.
In midfield Stuart Campbell, as expected, was declared unfit allowing Iain Anderson a start. Des Hamilton was dropped with.......superstar himself Paul Groves taking his place.
Iffy Onuora was rewarded for his effort against Wycombe by finding himself on the bench. Darren Mansaram partnered Michael Boulding.
Again Graham Hockless was denied a place in the 16. But Jonny Rowan was named on the bench after a four month injury layoff.
Plymouth lined up in a quite awful orange and green shirt. Not quite the shitness levels of Coventry's brown away number from a few years back but still shocking.
Town started the game at 100mph, in quite typical home fashion. Groves and Pouton bossed the midfield in a flashback to 1999, no we ain't gonna party like it's.....
Groves set Boulding away into space on two occasions early on. Sadly the Argyle defence were well clued up on Boulding and refused him space he needed. On the first occasion the frontman layed the ball off for Mansaram, who was instantly surrounded by dayglo shirts.
The second occasion Boulding got away from his man but the angle was too tight and his shot was never close to troubling Luke McCormick in the Plymouth goal.
Town then went onto have a succession of corners. For possibly the only time this season, Town were against 'bigger' opposition. Not that we're exactly impressive at corners though.
After half an hour, the away side started to find their feet. Through French midfielder David Friio started to play some very neat and clever football.
Friio's range of passing started to cause problems for Town as Evans was released on more than one occasion, only for Edwards to make up ground to pull off a last ditch tackle.
The Frenchman then tried an ambitous overhead kick from the edge of the area which Davison held with ease. 10/10 for acrobatics, 1/10 for the hair.
Friio was then left in a huddle on the floor after a, ahem, strong challenge from Groves.
The first half ended with Groves spurning two half-chances. First he fired wide after a neat one-two with Mansaram. Then his free header whistled past the post after Pouton's curling corner.
The second half saw the Pilgrims come out with more intent to attack Town. Early on Friio and Martin Phillips both missed the target after tidy approach work.
Friio soon got his revenge on Groves with a late tackle that saw him pick up a yellow card.
Plymouth started to show signs of petulance and dissent as they contested every decision with referee Eddie Evans. Evans and Tony Capaldi followed Friio into the referee's book for petty offences.
On 55 minutes Anderson's free-kick was met by Jevons' glancing header which left McCormick stranded but clipped the post before it was cleared to safety.
Barnard, who had a fine game at leftback, tired badly in the second half and was replaced by Greg Young. The versatile defender made his mark on the game after only a few minutes. Picking the ball up in his own half he bomed forward, shrugging off the challenges of Norris and Hodges before combining well with Jevons and Mansaram. The final ball failed to find a Town head but it was an impressive move from start to finish.
The ineffective Anderson was replaced with Marcel Cas, rumours had circulated before the game that the Dutchman is to return home on Monday citing 'personal reasons'.
On what could be his last game for the club, Cas made little impact. Only once did he really use his pace against the Plymouth defence, even then his control was poor and the threat nullified with ease. His only other contribution was a wild shot after Pouton's pass.
As the high tempo took it's toll on the speed of the game, Alan Pouton started to stamp his authority. Despite a lack of first team games he was a yard faster than his counterparts. His bursts from midfield ignited both his team-mates and the fans into life. Is he another who's played his final game in a Town shirt?
With nine minutes remaining the clearly exhausted Mansaram was replaced by Onuora. Flash ran himself into the ground all game, showing great heart and determination. A definite starter for Port Vale.
Onuora came on and put himself about. His powerful run down the left wing was finished with a wonderful cross that the stretching Boulding just failed to connect with. Many have long said that the veteran will only be effective as a late sub, on this evidence they're right.
In the final minute of injury time Pouton volleyed well over from a corner.
On paper, an excellent point for Town. But how sad that we're now happy with a scoreless draw at home. Regardless of who the opposition is, dropping points at home is not good enough.
Plymouth were nothing special. They were, however, very organised. In a division that lacks quality like this one, organisation will get you everywhere. Paul Sturrock has built a team that knows what it's doing and for that he must be congratulated. Makes you wonder what we could achieve with some consistent organisation.
Man of the Match - Darren Mansaram. Superb, no other word can sum up his performance. 120% effort from the youngster. Led the line brilliantly, brought the midfield into play and finally looked the player he was 18 months ago when he first burst onto the first team scene.