One Hell Of A Week

Well, we've played the top two and come out with two points. We'd have obviously have liked more, but most importantly we did not lose. To lose ground on either Bristol City and/or Stoke would have been suicide and as a result we can look upon the last week as a professional job well done.

Certainly Bristol City was, putting it mildly, ugly. Big Doris missed a penalty and the two teams dug trenches at Ashton Gate and waited for full-time. Yesterday had many parallels with that game, given the result and the missed penalty, but in footballing terms this looked like a different team.

We can wave our arms around and conjecture until the bars run dry on the subject of whether Mr Styles reduced our chances of winning the game, but he was equally bad for both teams, and it is not often that both sets of fans sing "You're not fit to referee" while a sent off player shakes the hand of a number of opposition players on his way off the field.

What we can say though it that yet again, just as against Leicester, the sending off galvanised the team and the crowd, and hopefully we can carry this through the last eight games.

Thankfully, after the Robins lost 1-2 at home to Plymouth, we have our destiny in our own hands. However, Plymouth, like Hull, who beat Southampton 5-0 have been on the charge recently, which is a bit of a bugger because we have a long trip to Devon on Saturday and another to Humberside the week after. Lets hope for more of the Stoke performance than the Bristol.

P.S. Who's your choice to step up to replace Eustace, I think my vote might go to Ali Bang Bang.

P.P.S. In other news, our game in hand against FA Cup semi-finalists Barnsley has been moved back to Wednesday 9th April, and Jordan Parkes is back out on loan again, this time at Barnet.

The Duke Of Bosnia

I've been feeling pretty tired after the exhaustion of Tuesday night. So when I saw this story this morning I thought I'd fallen asleep for 17 days and woken up on April 1st.

The long and the short of this story is that the Duke is interested in getting a Bosnia-Herzegovina call-up. He already qualifies for Jamaica, The Dominican Republic and England, but obviously feels his skills are not good enough for the former and too good for the later (is that right?)

Anyhow, being married to a Bosnian, Ellington believes he may qualify to play for the national side. In a statement to Bosnian television he also said "I went there last summer".

Well that's alright then.

Presumably then, following their recent training trip, most of the Watford Squad are hoping to turn out for the United Arab Emirates in this summer's World Cup Qualifiers.

Name That Road

Exciting news! Not only will we have a new stand to name in the coming months, but the new road off Occupation Road that will be used to access the new key-worker housing requires a name too. And the club are for fans suggestions for the name.

Best of all, you don't even need to go and get a postcard and a stamp; thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can e-mail your great idea for the name e-mail it to themediateam@watfordfc.com with your details, your suggestion and "Road Name Competition" in the header.

So, should it be Nicky Wright Close, Mooney Avenue or Yellow Fever Lane? It could be your suggestion that adorns maps of Watford for all eternity, and it could be your fault that some poor nurse will have to spell Brynjar Gunnarsson every time they give out their address. The choice is yours.

Bristol City 0 Watford 0

Will someone please stop the ride. I want to get off.

"The fourth official has indicated there will be at least three minutes of added time."

For the love of god man, please, no.


I hope yesterday evening was simply the result of two teams so utterly scared of losing that they clammed up, bolted the doors shut and waited for the final whistle, because if this is the brand of football being served by the top teams in the Chamionship then the Premiership will be scrapping promotions and relegations from it's league very soon.

You get the impression that a lot of time and effort could have been saved had both teams walked out at 7.45, shook hands taken the point there and then, and sent all the supporters home before it started raining, again.

It wasn't completely turgid, indeeed for the first 20 minutes we did look like we wanted to go and win the game. We didn't really know how we wre going to win it, but at least we looked like we wanted to win. Collins John looked lively, but plainly no-one else was on his wavelength, and despite more possession and territory we'd barely created a real chance when Marvin Elliot forced two good saves from Richard Lee in the space of a few minutes. City's game plan it seemed, was to soak up the pressure and hope to take their chances.

Then with thoughts turning to a half-time Bovril, the game exploded, albeit briefly, into life. Big Doris used his immense strength to win a ball that was never his to win, slipped in my man of the match Tommy Smith who was clumsily brought down. The City fans were moaning, but no clearer a penalty will you ever see. Darius stepped up to take the penalty, seemed to wait to see if the keeper would make the first move and when Basso didn't budge he seemed to change his mind and delivered his shot at a nice height for the keeper down to his left.

Angry with himself for the miss Hendo took out his frustrations on Lee Johnson, the City manager's son. It was an ugly challenge and he was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch, then again Johnson himself was fortunate to stay on the pitch moments later when he delivered his own retribution with a very very late challenge on Danny Shittu. I suspect had half-time not saved them, this game would have shortly have seen at least one red card. Tensions were high, and this was not helping the football.

The awful weather got worse in the second half, and with the removal of John for Williamson ten minutes after the restart, Watford were closing up shop. From then on, we created very little as we concentrated on not making any mistakes at the back and lumping aimless balls forward. City though also failed to show any guile and the quality of football went from bad to down-right awful as the tension grew, the weather worsened and the both sides mentally settled for a point. The last 20 minutes was some of the worse football I've ever seen.

However, we so nearly nicked it in those three-minutes of stoppage time when JJO'T poked a shot wide in a scramble in the City box, and although it would have been so welcome, we didn't deserve it, and the game didn't deserve it.

I'd have taken a point before the game, so I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed, but I had hoped for so much more, both in points and football. Hopefully better conditions will assist the quality on Saturday, though I fear the tension might be just as bad.

Super Saturday

Well, it was a super Saturday, if you don't follow the oval-ball game :-(

But as a Watford fan and general follower of the round-ball game it's been great. Bristol City were, by the sounds of it, lucky to take a point away from Leicester.

Elsewhere, in Staffordshire, the Manager of the Month curse continues to do it's business, as Stoke dropped two points at home to that thorn in everyones side Burnley. Though it could have been better had Stoke not scored a rather fortunate last-minute penalty.

So, a good day for the hornets, and hopefully our well rested team will capitalise against a heavy-legged City team on Tuesday night.

However I can't leave it there. I have to say well done to Portsmouth and Barnsley for restoring some pride and excitement to English football. The thought of another final between the top clubs in the country filled me with dread, and some of the romance of cup competition has returned with the knowledge that an unfashionable club will win something this year. It would be wonderful if it was a club from outside the Premiership.

And it could be useful to the horns too. Every club left in the cup will now believe they can actually win it, yes even The Gas, so hopefully they'll get a draw out of the Baggies tomorrow. Also our re-arranged game against Barnsley will now take place in the week leading up to a Wembley appearance, so hopefully their mind will be on other things, as long as they have points in the bag.

In other club news, after refusing to drop down to League One, Tamas has gone to find some form at Preston. He played 70 mins in their 2-1 win at Charlton, which realistically leaves the Championship a four-horse race.

Come On!

Where Are They Now #1 Perry Suckling

#1 in a very occasional series.

Ex-hornet goalkeeper Perry Suckling is currently the Academy Goalkeeping coach at Spurs.

According to this mornings free-rag Metro (aka The Daily Mail Lite), since the departure of Martin Jol and all his backroom staff (including goalkeeping coach Hans Segers), Perry has stepped up to coach the first team goalkeepers including the woefully out of form, calamity-prone, Paul Robinson.

Which might explain a lot.

Juande Ramos says he'll bring in a full time replacement at the end of the season.

Armchair Fan's Second Half Woe

0:28
Foul by Gary Doherty (Norwich) on John Eustace (Watford). Direct free kick taken right-footed by John Eustace (Watford) from left channel, passed.

When I was around 10-years-old I was regularly attending Watford home games with my Dad, standing on the old family terrace. We went to very few away games however, so I used to follow our fortunes on the road via the medium of BBC Ceefax.

8:10
Defending throw-in by Adrian Mariappa (Watford).

I'd be glued to the rotating three pages for our division, hoping the next time it came around we'd have scored. Or the opposition had had a player sent off. That was all you could hope for, because that was the only information you got.

10:30 GOAL - Dan Shittu
Watford 1 - Norwich 0

Inswinging corner from left by-line taken right-footed by Jobi McAnuff (Watford) to centre, headed goal by Dan Shittu (Watford) (top-right of goal) from right side of six-yard box (6 yards).Watford 1-0 Norwich. Assist (cross) by Jobi McAnuff (Watford) from right by-line.

Yes - get in!
Times have changed. We now live in an era of Multimedia communications, I don't follow games via Ceefax anymore - my wife wants to watch Eastenders! No, instead I follow the games via the live text updates on the BBC sport website. Here information is more readily available, though whether it's actually useful information is debatable.

35:48
Foul by Darius Henderson (Watford) on Mark Fotheringham (Norwich). Direct free kick taken right-footed by David Marshall (Norwich) from own half, resulting in open play.

Is this information actually useful. Does the armchair fan want to know about every foul by big Doris?

45:00 (0:47)
Cross by Leigh Bromby (Watford), save (punched) by David Marshall (Norwich).

Half Time

Make myself tea. It's all going very well. Bristol are losing at Charlton and the Baggies are being held at Hillsborough. All good.

56:51
Attacking throw-in by Mohammed Camara (Norwich).

What does that mean? Does he have a monster Bromby-style throw? I am getting tense now.

76:14
Inswinging corner from right by-line taken left-footed by Jordan Stewart (Watford) to centre, clearance by Dion Dublin (Norwich).

Well Duh! All corners are taken from the by-line. Who has to write this guff? I know for certain the Jordan Stewart is unlikely to have beaten the first man with a corner, so what does "to centre" mean?

80:57 GOAL - Jamie Cureton
Watford 1 - Norwich 1

Goal by Jamie Cureton (Norwich) drilled right-footed (bottom-left of goal) from left channel (25 yards).Watford 1-1 Norwich. Assist (pass) by Lee Croft (Norwich) from left channel.

Bum, I know what that means. Check other scores, McCombe has equalised for Bristol City. This evening is turning bad.

84:17
Inswinging corner from right by-line taken left-footed by Jordan Stewart (Watford) to centre, clearance by Juan Velasco (Norwich).

Will someone stop letting him take Corners.

90:00 (0:19)
Shot by John-Joe O'Toole (Watford) right-footed from centre of penalty area (12 yards), save (tipped round post) by David Marshall (Norwich).

Oooo so close. I hold my head in my hands. I realise I have no idea if that was close or not.

Full Time

Oh no, and now Kevin bloody Phillips has got a last-gasp winner for West Brom. This is all going wrong.

Am not feeling so confident about next Tuesday now, but I do know that it is absolutely huge, and the nervous anticipation is cranked up yet another notch.

Beating The Arse

Steveohorn's been up to his usual tricks and has uploaded another classic Watford win on to Youtube. This is the 1987 FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal at Highbury.

This great video has some brilliant bits to watch out for; Arsenal's first coming from a classic bit of hoof-ball, a fantastic performance from the mistachioed Tony Coton in goal, Bardsley's destruction of podgy England full-back Kenny Sansom, some incredibly biased commentary and the classic break away third goal that leaves a 21-year-old Tony Adams standing on the half-way line with his arm in the air, a familiar pose to football supporters the world over, no matter what your age.

You should though, try not to look too hard at the very tiny Watford shorts. You might go blind.

Weekend Round-Up

So the MoM curse does it's ugly business as Stoke went down 3-0 away at QPR yesterday, failing to take back the top-spot from Brizzle City who went back to the top on Saturday afternoon. Tony Pulis has said he'll appeal the red card shown to Captain Andy Griffin, however Stoke were already 2-0 down by that stage so it's difficult to argue it changed the outcome of the game.

Much has been made of Watford's tough run-in, but there are going to be few games with nothing riding on them, and those teams at the bottom are fighting as hard for survival as those at the top. You could argue that everyone down to Palace in 11th is eyeing a play-off spot, whilst even in 12th Blackpool might not consider themselves completely safe yet. One suspects that the magic 50 points might be the survival target in this division yet again.

Elsewhere at the top the baggies got back to winning ways with a 3-0 win at home to Plymouth, and ex-horn Kevin Phillips picked up the Championship player of the year award at the Football Year Awards. Watford picked up the community club of the year, showing the club is still the Family Club.

Bristol City won a tight game at home to Hull thanks to an acrobatic over-head kick from centre half Jamie McCombe. Just 3 points now separate the Robins and the Horns who meet at Ashton Gate next Tuesday, and this reporter, who lives just 10 miles from Bristol is getting very excited at the prospect of this clash, especially as his tickets arrived in the post this morning.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves, first we face a Norwich team who've been rejuvenated under ex-horn Glenn Roeder on Tuesday at the Vic. Lets hope we can build on some recent good home performances.