18/01/2017 Spotlight

Plymouth Argyle's hopes of progressing further in the FA Cup

were dashed tonight - as they were beaten by five times

European Champions Liverpool, in their biggest match in years.

More than 17 thousand fans were at Home Park hoping Argyle

could pull off an FA Cup shock - but it wasn't to be.

Live to the ground now and Andy Birkett.

Disappointment here tonight but also a huge sense of pride at how the

League 2 side acquitted itself against Premier League opposition.

Ten days ago, 9000 pilgrims went to Liverpool more in hope than

expectation. Having got the result at Anfield, expectations were

considerably higher. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.

David against Goliath, but football fans are eternal optimists.

Plymouth need to score a couple of goals.

Liverpool are coming out with a strong team tonight.

1962 was the last time a Liverpool side ran out at Home Park.

Like in the first game, the Premier League side

dominated and, after 19 minutes, they lead.

The question was, would Plymouth respond?

Graham Carey, the Liverpool fan playing in green forced a good save.

Even on nights like this, some things are more important.

Applause all round in the 25th minute paying tribute to Daniel May

who died as the teams met ten days ago.

That came during Argyle's best spell.

A run by Oscar Threlkeld almost found Garita.

But the defender in red beaten to it.

Captain Luke McCormick kept Argyle in it, denying Daniel Sturridge.

Jake Jervis's acrobatic effort skimming the post.

A foul by Songo'o conceded a penalty but McCormick

However, they couldn't find an equaliser.

And, as expected, the Premier League side went through,

It's been a fantastic atmosphere here with around 15,000 Argyle fans

cheering their side on. They came to witness a giant-killing and sadly

the team came up short but the manager was still very proud. I

thought in the first half we created a number of chances and took the

game to Liverpool at times. We lost a poor goal but in the second half

we hit the post through Janis and were unfortunate not to have scored.

Of course, this competition has a rich tradition of upsets and no

manager wants to be on the end of a cup shock. Jurgen Klopp was full of

praise for the Argyle side but thought it was a fair result. 1-0, I

am fine with it. We didn't want extra time, we didn't want to go to

penalties. Leaving Plymouth, nice as it is, early is good for us.

Plymouth have earned around ?1 million from this competition. We

will see how they spend that money, maybe to bolster their squad. There

are ambitious dreams, that is to leave division two.

Police are tonight hunting arsonists who set fire to a property

Five adults and two children were forced

to leave their flats in St Thomas Road, after a fire had

been lit against the front door in the early hours of this morning.

The police say if the flames hadn't been spotted by a neighbour,

the consequences could have been far worse.

These came to the front door and there was a fireman standing

there with their suits, and the gas masks and helmets on.

And they came through the house and they were saying we had to get

out and get our stuff and if there was

MPs from across Devon are warning they'll vote

against the government's education plans unless more funding is

Devon has always received one of the lowest amounts of cash

per pupil, and schools had hoped things would improve under changes

But instead, Devon schools may actually lose out.

Our correspondent Simon Hall reports.

When the government announced a new funding formula to tackle

the historic bias against rural areas, there were smiles

But they've turned to France, in Devon at least, now

So, how many of you are taking history as an option for GCSE?

Okehampton Community College is one to lose out,

facing an annual budget cut of ?100,000.

Potentially, class sizes will be affected.

Potentially, staffing allocations will be affected.

Under the old formula, each pupil in Devon was funded almost ?300

The new formula brings an improvement on that,

according to an analysis by the county council, although

And the study concludes more than a third of Devon's schools

will actually lose money under the new system.

And the warning is it could lead to larger class sizes

Today, MPs from across Devon and cross party

If this education funding settlement does not change,

in relation to Devon schools, if there is no significant uplift,

whatever format it will come in, whether in six months,

nine months, 12 months' time, I will vote against it.

Because the settlement that's been proposed for Devon schools is simply

In a statement, the Department for Education told us that, overall,

Devon would gain half a percent in their total education budget

"We're helping to create a system that funds schools

Devon County Council say they will lobby the government again

There's been a sharp rise in the number of dolphins washing up

27 cases were reported to Cornwall Wildlife Trust

during the first two weeks of January, compared with just four

Marine experts say it's not clear how they died.

Exmoor explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is on his way home tonight

after being forced to abandon his attempt to climb one of the highest

He had to be airlifted from Mount Acon-CAG-U-WAH suffering

The climb was part of his charity challenge to climb the highest

The moment the latest challenge ended in painful failure.

A helicopter had to be called to evacuate the 72-year-old

The whole challenge has plainly been a struggle.

But this is not a man who quits easily.

The 72-year-old, who has battled cancer and heart attacks was raising

money for Marie Curie, attempting a global challenge

to become the first man to climb the highest peaks on each continent.

He was in sight of the summit when he was forced to stop.

He said he was disappointed. That his back started hurting.

He was only six hours away from the summit so it was

quite frustrating but he needed to get down and get to a point

where helicopter could get him and bring him back to the mainland.

It's an injury that he's had before with his back.

So, he is keen to get home, get it seems to and just make sure

Sir Ranulph has already crossed both polar ice caps and reached

the summit of four mountains, the last, Mount Vinson in December.

Aconcagua was to be number five and there were two more to go.

Well, Sir Ranulph says everything goes on hold until he's had his back

problem properly examined here in the UK and only then

"I've learned that at my age you can't ignore the pain."

Time for the weather foreccast now - here's David.

Good evening. Cold and dry is the main story for ours. Frost already

forming over a good part of the south-west. High pressure is here to

stay. It's going to be around into the weekend. Six o'clock tomorrow

morning. By the middle of the day on Friday, although it has moved, it is

still dominant and keeps as largely drive. Also drawing in some pretty

cold air. So for southern England, a widespread frost. We could see

temperatures as low as minus three. Plenty of sunshine to enjoy. Just

patchy cloud floating by. Keen winds. If you are in the far

south-west, but for the rest relatively quiet though not overly

warm. Temperatures up to 8 degrees at best. By Friday, a similar

picture. Frost to start the day. A fine and try start. We may see more

cloud coming in from the east. It should remain dry and temperatures

the same sort of figures. Fine weather continues into the weekend.

More cloud coming in for Sunday. The LB more news and weather from ours

just before 6:30am tomorrow morning. From ours, good night.

next few days, no great changes over the next few days, more sunshine on

the way. Despite high-pressure sitting across

the country so