Cheltenham Town's Papa Johns Trophy run comes to an end after defeat on penalties following a one all draw in 90 minutes.
Smart defending from Charlie Raglan repeled the home sides first attack of the match. Neat work down the right hand side from Danny Mayor opened up a chance to cross for Niall Ennis who fired across the six-yard box, but Raglan diverted the ball out for a corner.
Argyle had the first shot of the match, Mickel Miller picking the ball up in the centre of the pitch, making his way into the box with his strike well over due to pressure from a number of blue shirts.
Raglan was there again to deny Plymouth as the home side won the ball deep into Cheltenham territory with Ennis played in behind and as he was shaping up to shoot, the defender perfectly timed his sliding challange to win possesion back.
Great work on the left hand side bought the Robins their first real chance of the match. Will Ferry was able to find Alfie May in a pocket of space in the box, his shot was blocked at close range, but the ball fell to skipper Sean Long, who drove the ball towards goal, winning a corner after several ricochets.
The Robins had a golden chance to take the lead as May was played in behind the defence on the left wing, but Brendan Galloway positioned himself well to block off an easy pass across goal as Taylor Perry stood unmarked on the 6-yard line.
Luke Southwood came to the rescue on the half hour mark as Argyle won the ball in the midfoeld, outnumbering the blue shirts, Finn Azaz took aim but the keeper stretched to his right to tip the ball round the post.
Argyle thought they took the lead from the following corner as Mayor headed into the net from the front post, but after the celebrations died down, the lineman's flag rose and after a short conversation with the referee, the goal was ruled out as Matt Butcher was adjudjed to have fouled Southwood.
Southwood suberbly denied Ennis from close range as he found space on the left hand side of the box, his strike was meat by the chest of the 'keeper who sprawled himself wide to make the block.
The Robins broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half as Keena picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and played May in on the top right corner of the box, the forward shaped his body to side foot the ball under the dive of Callum Burton.
The hosts levelled through Hardie's excellent finish into the top corner, the hosts broke away on the counter attack. A crossfield ball found Hardie on the edge of the box, who curled the ball past Southwood.
May almost turned provider as he chased a long ball from Elliot Bonds, taking the ball past two defenders before teeing up Keena whos first time strike was blocked infront of goal.
Argyle had the ball in the net again in the 83rd minute but again celebrations were cut short as the linesman flagged for offside during the goalmouth scramble.
Subsititute Sam Cosgrove thought he had won the game for his side as he cut in from the right hand side and unleashed a strike that smacked the far post.
With the scores level after 90 minutes, the game as taken to penalties, shooting infront of the traveling fans.
The first four were scored, as Sercombe and Brown netted for the Robins, and after Azaz missed Plymouth's third, the Robins had the advantage. But two saves from Burton in the Argyle net meant that May had to score to keep his side in the game. After scoring in the 90 minutes, May failed to dispatch is penalty, ending what has been a heroic cup run for the Robins.
Robins XI: Southwood, Raglan, Long (c), Jackson, Broom, Ferry, Bonds, Sercombe, Perry, Keena (Brown 78'), May
Unused substitutes: MacDonald (GK), Ebanks, Barkers, Norton, Sambu
Plymouth Argyle XI: Burton, Bolton, Houghton, Wilson, Butcher (Matete 70'), Edwards (c), Mayor (Cosgrove 82'), Ennis (Hardie 56'), Miller (Gillesphey 56', Azaz (Wright 56'), Galloway
Unused substitutes: Parkes (GK), Cosgrove, Waine
Referee: Mr R. Lewis
Attendence: 12,047 (236 away)