Basket Case: Watford 3 Sheffield United 0
Who remembers 7th December when Lloyd Doyley scored? To say things have gone wrong since then would be a huge understatement, the club has seemingly lurched from one crisis to another, first the threat of administration, then a run of form which yielded just two points from an amount of games fast approaching double figures. Not only had the results been poor but the performances were no better, and it eventually culminated in us throwing away a 2.1 lead against Blackpool with just three minutes to go and losing 3.2. After that result I honestly couldn’t see where the next win was going to come from.
Waking up on Saturday I had no thought in my head that the match against Swansea would be cancelled and got in to the usual Saturday morning routine before getting the text saying the match was in doubt due to the failure of the undersoil heating. Eventually it was confirmed the game was off, and feeling a bit pathetic I honestly had no idea how I could spend the day with no alternative plans immediately available. Instead me and Chris went to the Coral, put a couple of random accumulators on, and a sneaky quid on Ebbsfleet to beat Luton before finding a pub.
It was actually a good way to spend the day (as far as wasting a day goes) - not having to worry about the Orn’s and revelling in other fans misery/joy. With half time approaching it was evident we were not going to win big money off our £1 bets but there was still one score going our way courtesy of Magno Viera Ebbsfleet’s Brazilian star. With about 15 minutes to go Luton made it 2.2 but about 5 minutes later Moses Ashikodi scored for Ebbsfleet. It was a sweet moment to see an ex Watford player score, especially when we both knew he’d have received stick for being a ’Watford reject’. Ebbsfleet held on and Chris and I won enough money to cover the time we were in the pub. Not a bad day.
Unfortunatley the results of teams down the bottom had gone against us and we had dropped to just 6 points off the drop zone and were down to 17th by the time Tuesday night came. However there were some positives, we’d held on to Loach and finally signed a big strong defender that we had been in desperate need for since Williamson was sold to Portsmouth reserves.
My dad and I were late leaving work but we still had time to meet Chris at the chip shop and then it was on to the Hornet shop where I was finally able to pick up the Christmas present from my aunt and uncle….the ‘I was there when Lloyd scored shirt’. However the happy memories of that day were a distant memory and if I’d been told there had been a mistake and my shirt was no longer available I wouldn’t be have been too disappointed.
I just made it in to the ground in time for the minutes silence, and it was quite surreal to see how the majority stopped rushing to their seats to observe it.
The match did not start well and was pretty dire for the first 25 minutes. We were playing 4-5-1 and despite having the extra man in midfield we still didn’t seem to get close to the Sheffield United players. The formation also meant that we had what appeared no attacking threat. Helguson was failing to hold up the ball and it seemed we just couldn’t get out of our own half. It was a physical, scrappy start and it probably wasn’t helped by a pitch which had suffered from a lack of undersoil heating.
Gradually we began to impose ourselves on the game perhaps as we began to realise Sheffield United were as gifting at the back as we have been in some games this season. The first real chance was from Helguson whose header from a long throw was saved by the keeper and eventually Morgan hacked the ball clear. Next up stepped Cleverly whose free kick clipped the post, though at the time I thought the keeper had made a good save. When we did score it took me by complete surprise. It was a long ball up the pitch which both defenders left Cleverly bravely rose up to head the ball in before he was taken out by the keeper. Luckily he wasn’t too badly injured, but seeing the replay, the keeper was lucky not to get a booking.
Sheffield were maybe feeling slightly aggrieved at conceding such a sloppy goal and became even more physical, with one of their strikers leaving the foot in when Loach got to the ball first. It was cynical and worthy of the yellow card despite pleads of innocence.
At half time I was still feeling more pessimistic than optimistic and honestly couldn’t believe that United would be as bad in the second half as they were in the first. I was wrong. The goal had clearly given our young side a lift and they came out with all guns blazing. For weeks we’d shown a lack of effort and determination but United’s defence were poor under pressure and our hunger almost paid off when the keeper cleared straight to Helguson on the edge of the box. It looked for all the world that it was a matter of when he’d score not if, but perhaps he had too much time and the keeper made a good save.
Minutes later we had another chance, the new signing Martin ’Tiny’ Taylor caused havoc in the Sheffield United box, the ball wasn’t cleared and he tried to shoot from a ridiculous angle, the ball fizzed across the goal line but no one else had gambled so no one was there to turn it in.
Still we continued to create chances and eventually gave ourselves a bit of a cushion when another defensive mix up again saw Helguson in on goal, this time he instinctively shot and it was in. Sheffield United still seemed devoid of ideas and their defence still looked shaky. Chris text me to say he didn’t want to tempt fate, but that he was always surprised at the way Blackwell could make good players look so average. It seemed a valid point but for me the next goal (if there was to be one) would be crucial. If Sheffield had nicked one to make it 2.1 the whole atmosphere would have changed.
Instead we got some luck when Cowie stepped up to take a free kick. He whipped the ball in, everyone left it and the ball clipped in the inside of the far post before nestling in the back of the net. 3.0 and we were safe especially given the fact even at 2.0 it had been us rather than Sheffield creating the more likely goal scoring chances.
Henderson went off to a standing ovation and chants. Whilst he did deserve a positive acknowledgement what he received was too much in my opinion. He was a good player for us, and had stuck with us even after he’d been treated quite badly by Boothroyd but for me he is never going to be a Watford legend in the same way someone like Mooney was. I was just glad to see him leave the pitch because I feared he;d either score or cause injury to one of our better players.
Malky reacted by bringing on Will Hoskins and Danny Graham, the latter almost scoring with a wonder goal when he turned and shot on the half volley. Even Hoskins had a go, cutting in from the right but failed to either shoot or cross and the chance was wasted. He even tried to score towards the end with an attempt that was cheered due to us being 3.0 up, but had it still been 0.0 would surely have been met with groans considering other options were available.
It was 3 much needed points, a rare clean sheet and we’ve edged our goal difference back towards 0. we aren’t going to be fixed over night but hopefully this will give us some much needed confidence especially with another tough month ahead.
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Where has the time gone...?
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