160 Minutes. That’s how long it took before we (I) came crashing back down to earth. This season it has not been surprising to experience a goal in the very early stages of the match – or at least some form of early activity. Most of these goals have of course been scored against us but even so it is still vital to be seated in time for the kick off. I don’t remember too much about the goal now – it doesn’t help that I’m writing this a few days after but also so much happened afterwards. I remember thinking the chance had gone and groaning as a result before realising Smithy was actually crossing the ball in – O’Toole rising and in a state of shock the Rookery celebrating. I do however remember more about the second…the long ball that seemed to be going absolutely nowhere and which Hoskins rescued. He really has upped his work rate, and his movement both out wide and through the centre does seem to be causing a few problems for some defenders. Anyway back to the goal, Hoskins shot, the ball deflected off Purse and we were 2.0 up!! As the commentators say, if you have a shot and it’s on target you have more chance of scoring than if you don’t shoot. All we had to do was keep our shape, and most importantly not to do anything stupid. But this is Watford. We love to make it hard for ourselves. We don’t do sensible; we never have (well certainly not in what feels a very long time). It was a free kick to us and I’d just received a text from Caroline saying what a headless chicken Priskin had been…I was in the process of defending the young Hungarian. He hadn’t shone like Hoskins but I hadn’t recalled him doing anything glaringly pathetic. However, thankfully for my reputation I looked up before I pressed send. I could hear Cardiff fans chanting ‘Off Off Off’. I asked Chris what happened, he wasn’t sure – no Cardiff player had ‘fallen over’. With hearts in mouths we waited – it was a red card. It was Priskin. No protests from the players, and crucially no emotion from Boothroyd. Message deleted and re-worded. What a (Tw)Attwell. Last season, when we felt an injustice e.g. against Leicester we held on for the win. Even against Stoke we drew 0.0 but could have won the game had Henderson scored the penalty. Maybe, in hindsight the reason we couldn’t hold on for the win Tuesday night is it wasn’t an injustice? Though maybe I’m just trying to make myself feel a little bit less frustrated and trying to defend the inexcusable. We did the job to get us to half time which I felt was crucial. But Cardiff still came out strong in the second half and as we sat back it seemed only one team would score again. Mostly they were left to try long range efforts – against some sides that could possibly be enough, but each of Cardiff’s attempts seemed dangerously close. They also seemed to be having a lot of joy down the flanks and Hoskins was cruelly isolated. We needed some pace – we needed McAnuff on for the slightly slower Harley. What we got was Rasiak on for Hoskins which left us with even less pace. I wasn’t against the change – we also needed some height but it was glaringly obvious we needed an injection of pace upfront as well. The minutes ticked by, and we reached 60 minutes. But Cardiff rather than losing confidence were gaining it. Soon they had a penalty, I had a gut feeling it would go left but couldn’t quite believe it when Lee saved again and the rebounding header went just wide. Maybe, just maybe I dared myself to believe we would hold on. There was now about 20 minutes left, plenty of time for a goal, but we had a two goal advantage and had just saved a penalty. Surely now Cardiff would accept it wasn’t to be their day. Cardiff have only lost one game this season and it was clear on Tuesday night why that is. They don’t give up. They didn’t let the miss effect them and still continued to attack. Eventually they got a goal. Lee had been in awesome form but had no chance due to a deflection which meant the ball ended up in the top corner. For too much of the match we hadn’t been closing down – it seemed cruelly ironic they should score when we finally did. So it was going to be a nervy final 15 minutes. We needed some inspiration from the bench – we couldn’t afford to panic. But by now Cardiff could taste blood, I think all Watford fans were fearing the worse, but it was a shame that this was the attitude of everyone. Maybe if we’d suddenly roared into life we could have been the 11th man the players needed? Instead, Cardiff equalised as they probably deserved to. It was a well taken goal, but felt scrappy all the same. Still another 12 minutes to go including injury time. Now it really was going to be a prolonged period of agony. I even said to Chris, if they are going to score I hope it’s soon just to put us out of our misery. To be honest we did finally create some chances, Harley with a good, well placed shot, but maybe not the required power, and I think the keeper always guessed which way he was shooting. Finally Aidy decided to bring on some pace in McAnuff, but surprisingly it was Smith who went off. Surprising because the slower Harley had become our main threat being forced to chase balls – something which was never going to work and left Sadler more exposed than ever. Cardiff had chances and the game became very open. Thankfully we held on for a draw. I’d have taken that before the match and would have taken it after 75 minutes, but there is no denying what could have been if we’d been more professional. We don’t like to do things the easy way – I don’t think we’ve had a win this season which could be described as comfortable – which didn’t have moments where the supporters were left with ‘hearts in mouths’ as we try our best to throw it away. Maybe it’s the nature of the league – teams have a never say die attitude and never give up… Next up Wolves who lost 5-2 to Norwich and as Boothroyd says they are the proverbial wounded animal – when an animal is at it’s most dangerous allegedly. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh but why do I feel if we’d just lost 5-2 we’d just ‘die’ next game? Why is it, having thrown away a 2.0 lead we aren’t also a wounded animal? Why can’t we be dangerous as a result?
