Monthly Archives: August 2002

31st August 2002- New Division One, Norwich City 4 Watford 0

http://watford.fcdb.info/index.php?page=matches

BBC: Norwich strolled to a comfortable victory over nine-man Watford which ensured they stayed up with the Division One pace-setters and maintained their 100% home record.

The Observer, 1 Sep 2002

Daily Telegraph, 2 Sep 2000

BSAD: Having missed both the debacle at Fratton Park and the astonishing demolition of Coventry over the bank holiday weekend, my perspective going into this game was very much one of a man who’d just had a blindfold removed having been spun on the spot several times in total darkness. The sense of disorientation was furthered when Danny Webber, source of so much of Monday’s excitement, was significant by his absence from the squad warming up in front of us in the sunshine. The sense of disappointment in the away end when the line-ups were confirmed by the tannoy announcer (with what is becoming an obligatory exaggeration of excitement for such individuals) was almost palpable – Foley in up front with Jamie Hand re-appearing on the bench. Webber, it transpired, had picked up a knock in training.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2002-08-31

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/31-august-2002/

29th August 2002- Friendly, India 0 Jamaica 3 (played at Vicarage Road)

Ask someone if they fancy watching Jamaica play India, and the chances are they will immediately conjure up images of Sabina Park baking under a blazing sun. But the sporting showdowns between Jamaica and India are poised to take on a different dimension in two matches over the next few days.

Jamaica comfortably won the first football meeting between Jamaica and India.

26th August 2002- New Division One, Watford 5 Coventry City 2

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4510

BBC Sport

Watford’s Danny Webber – on loan from Manchester United – inspired a five-goal demolition of hapless Coventry City at Vicarage Road.

BBC-SPORT-_-Football-_-Eng-Div-1-_-Watford-crush-Coventry Download

Personally, I would’ve been quietly pleased with a point. A return to stability, to steady progress towards wherever-we’re-hoping-to-end-up. A draw, especially if we’d managed to score in the process, would’ve been all right, really. Not too bad. We would’ve been slightly reassured after the savage defeat at Fratton, and could’ve looked forward with renewed semi-enthusiasm to a season of predictable results, mid-table comfort, steady improvement. For now, I’m content with looking to the long-term, always understating short-term hopes.

Daily Telegraph, 27 Aug 2002

Guardian, 27 Aug 2002

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2002-08-26

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24th August 2002- New Division One, Portsmouth 3 Watford 0

http://watford.fcdb.info/index.php?page=matches

BBC Sport: Watford’s day was summed up in a bizarre incident in the 79th minute, when Allan Neilsen was booked for unsporting behaviour and received a second yellow for foul and abusive language, resulting in his dismissal.

In truth, the off-pitch politics of the First Division has proved to be rather more fascinating than much of the football, so far. It’s been hard to focus, somehow…and hard to regard the early season jostling as particularly important when it’s patently obvious that several of those involved might be bust by Christmas. Bizarrely, and yet tellingly, I have absolutely no idea what league positions some clubs – Walsall, Rotherham, Sheffield United, for example – currently occupy. And yet I know rather more about their latest accounts….

In the end, although Watford had plenty of possession, they never looked like doing anything and Pompey deserved their win. Once we had gone a goal down it seemed that the players didn’t know what to do. Sure, Pompey are a very good side, but for my liking the players surrendered all too easily in the five minutes either side of half time. It almost looked like we came for a 0-0 and hoped to get one in the last five minutes.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/24-august-2002/

17th August 2002-New Division One, Watford 3 Wimbledon 2

The side we played that day were really an embryonic MK Dons. In May the FA had given the go ahead for the then owners of Wimbledon to relocate the club to Milton Keynes, although they wouldn’t actually move for another year. In response the supporters of Wimbledon re-launched the club as AFC Wimbledon and by the time of this game were already playing in the Combined Counties League which explains the rather empty away end.

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4508

Lets just pretend Tommy Smith doesn’t fall over whilst celebrating Allan Nielsen’s goal.

Allan Nielsen sealed an improbable win for Watford over Wimbledon with a last-gasp goal at Vicarage Road.

BBC-SPORT-_-Football-_-Eng-Div-1-_-Watford-3-2-Wimbledon Download

BSAD report:When else do I get to write a match report that can be as biased and as blinkered as I like, safe in the knowledge that there were no opposition fans present to offer conflicting witness statements?

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Taken from 26 Aug 2002 Watford v Coventry City programme

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13th August 2002- New Division One, Watford 0 Millwall 0

Ray Lewington’s first programme notes.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4507

Personally, I feel involved again. Apart from anything else, we worked really, really hard last night, and it was nigh on impossible to feel detached when faced with the possibility that all that effort might not be rewarded in some small way. An imperfect performance, perhaps. An almost embarrassingly honest and willing one too, however, and you felt that a Millwall winner and consequent fury from the stands might be too much for a open, slightly vulnerable, increasingly hearts-on-sleeves team to cope with. In short, it mattered quite a lot, more than it has for a while.