Monthly Archives: September 2003

30th September 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Burnley 1

Football. Marvellous, isn’t it? Transporting you from the ordinary day-to-day to some higher plane. Hard to imagine that Watford fans would be experiencing such feelings and such an absorbing ninety minutes given the season to date. Hard to imagine a standing ovation for a team that comes off the pitch with only a draw, firmly rooted next-to-bottom (or bottom if you only count real clubs), down to ten men, four players booked, and with their opponents spurning a penalty and having a shot come back off the post, defying Newtonian mechanics (or is it Euclidean geometry?). But that’s what they had, a standing ovation – and thoroughly deserved.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4568

27th September 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Ipswich Town 2

Ipswich came back from a goal down to secure their first away win of the season at the expense of struggling Watford.

Here we are, then. Up to our necks in a swamp and sinking rapidly. You don’t need me to tell you want this result means, a ghastly defeat in a must-win fixture. And you don’t need me to tell you how it felt either, how the last thirty minutes were like watching your home being destroyed by a wrecking ball. And you certainly don’t need me to attempt to lift spirits with some kind of faux-chirpy, it’s-only-a-game, chin-up-son philosophy. No, you don’t need that.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4567

23rd September 2003- League Cup Second Round, Bristol City 1 Watford 0 (After Extra Time)

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

You Tube Video: https://youtu.be/AQGvTDrJRTI?si=_mshVetm3xhJu56E&t=1216

BBC: Lee Miller struck in extra-time to send Bristol City into the third round of the Carling Cup. Miller headed home Mickey Bell’s cross four minutes into the extra period to give Danny Wilson’s Second Division side victory in a dour game.

BSAD: The Lord of the Rings exhibition at the Science Museum kicks off imminently… this features one of Peter Jackson’s now famous distorted sets, which create the illusion of diminutive stature by abnormally scaling the environs to fool the camera. It’s not inconceivable that Jackson came upon this idea on a visit to the away end at Ashton Gate, from where it was impossible to assess the geography of play in the opposite half by any other means than a rough inferral from player sizes. Even this method wasn’t foolproof… “so was that Bruce Dyer on the edge of the box, or Ashley Young on the halfway line…?”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003–04_Football_League_Cup

20th September 2003- New Division One, Wigan Athletic 1 Watford 0

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

You Tube video: https://youtu.be/AQGvTDrJRTI?si=_shmkIwM_yu6dkBf&t=1118

Observer, 21 Sep 2003
Sunday Telegraph, 21 Sep 2003

BSAD: Three match reports

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-09-20
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/21-september-2003/#google_vignette

17th September 2003- New Division One, Derby County 3 Watford 2

Junior, who scored Derby’s winner, would join Watford in 2006 but legal issues with his work permit prevented him from ever playing a game for us.

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

You Tube Video: https://youtu.be/AQGvTDrJRTI?si=96RVR-x898oQwdx-&t=1015

The Guardian, 18 Sep 2003
Daily Telegraph, 18 Sep 2003
Evening Standard, 18 Sep 2003
Independent, 18 Sep 2003

13th September 2003- New Division One, Watford 3 Millwall 1

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BBC Sport

A moment of madness by Millwall’s Kevin Muscat helped Watford on their way to their first League win of the season.  Muscat conceded a penalty, and was sent off, for stamping on Danny Webber in the Millwall area in first-half injury-time

BSAD report: The concern about our start to the season, therefore, was not so much that the results themselves might prove to be disastrous. And it certainly wasn’t that the performances suggested that nine months of thankless struggle were inevitable. There was – is – nothing that can’t be salvaged, apart from the still dreadful events of 9th August.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4563
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Taken from the programme on 12th September 2015- Premier League, Watford 1 Swansea City 0
https://oldwatford.com/2006/03/25/25th-march-2006-championship-watford-0-millwall-2/