Monthly Archives: April 2011

30th April 2011- Championship, Watford 0 Queens Park Rangers 2

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4965
https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-qpr/teams/217084

Queens Park Rangers defeated Watford to clinch the Championship title and end a 15-year absence from the Premier League.

Goals from Adel Taarabt and Tommy Smith secured victory at Vicarage Road on Saturday, meaning Rangers cannot be caught by third-placed Cardiff and should have booked their place in the top flight as well as clinching the league crown. Neil Warnock and his coaching staff all embraced on the touchline, but the celebrations will be slightly muted with the club now nervously awaiting the outcome of next week’s FA hearing into the transfer of Argentinian midfielder Alejandro Faurlin.

The independent commission sits on Tuesday with a decision due four days later, and Rangers could be punished sufficiently to drop into the play-off positions. Indeed Watford fans taunted the champions with cries of ‘You’re gonna lose in the play-offs’.

Uncertainly, then, remains, but all their players, staff and fans could feel yesterday was joy. Emotions became unruly after the final whistle when some of the 2,171 away supporters swarmed on to the pitch and despite repeated warnings from Watford’s public address announcer, refused to leave promptly. Neil Warnock, the QPR manager, also become embroiled in the chaos, telling the man with the microphone to keep his orders to himself. Ignoring instructions from stewards, Warnock then refused to leave the pitch until he had saluted the QPR fans himself.

Should Rangers suffer a points penalty you won’t find many tears shed in Hertfordshire, I suspect. It wasn’t the unseemly scuffles with interlopers in the Rookery, these have happened pretty much whenever visiting supporters have made significant incursion; I’m sure there were far more Rangers fans in the home end keeping a respectably low profile than there were causing trouble. It’s not even the pitch invasion, tedious as that was; those of us on the pitch at Craven Cottage thirteen years ago (ulp) would hardly be in a position to criticise on that score. It was the utterly needless and moronic charge towards the home end, the provocation of a situation that was only ever going to be diffused by a heavyweight police presence, ultimately on horseback. Celebrate by all means, but why a stand-off? Fuckwits. A situation not remotely placated by the reliably provocative Neil Warnock, as ever displaying all the restraint and judgment of a four year old with a sugar rush in gesticulating towards the Rookery end.

The commission found QPR guilty of just two of the seven charges relating to the signing of Alejandro Faurlin and were fined £875,000 but did not receive a points deduction and therefore were promoted as champions.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2011-04-30
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/30-april-2011/

23rd April 2011- Championship, Watford 1 Barnsley 0

Vince Pitt’s cartoon has not aged well.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4963

Captain John Eustace’s winner after just 43 seconds kept Watford’s slim play-off hopes flickering after a poor game against Barnsley at Vicarage Road.

Don Cowie delivered a corner from the right and after Troy Deeney hit the crossbar with a powerful header, Eustace was on hand to prod in from point blank range.

If Troy Deeney eventually blended into the anonymous blur, he took an awful lot longer than most. Often up-and-down in a rather Jordan Stewart kinda way – undermining a positive and encouraging contribution one moment with a distracted, infuriating error almost immediately (although never quite to Stewart’s peerless level) – his first half in particular was jam-packed with consistent, varied contributions. Strong headers, hard work, neat touches, bright vision. In a forward line featuring Danny Graham and Marvin Sordell, his was the star turn, the real source of impetus and momentum.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2011-04-23
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/23-april-2011/

12th April 2011- Championship, Watford 2 Norwich City 2

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4961

BHappy image For anyone worried that the season might fizzle out, a properly tasty game of football. Any mention of officials in the first thunk is inevitably followed by a tirade…but this is the exception, for Mr A Taylor’s contribution, while sometimes inconsistent and occasionally slightly bewildering, should be heartily applauded by all card-carrying members of the Campaign for Real Tackling.

BBC Sport Norwich’s automatic promotion push was dealt another blow as they were held to a draw at Watford.

sky  Norwich’s quest for promotion was dealt another blow after a 2-2 draw at Watford saw them slip out of the top two in the Championship.

English League ChampionshipTable »
Barnsley0-1Queens Park Rangers
Derby County2-1Leeds United
Doncaster Rovers1-1Preston North End
Ipswich Town3-3Middlesbrough
Leicester City1-1Crystal Palace
Millwall0-0Bristol City
Nottingham Forest2-0Burnley
Portsmouth0-3Coventry City
Scunthorpe United0-2Reading
Sheffield United0-2Cardiff City
Swansea City1-1Hull City
Watford2-2Norwich City
Screen Shot 2017-04-12 at 20.06.56.png

9th April 2011- Championship, Watford 1 Hull City 2

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4960

Hull’s fine away form continued at Watford as another smash-and-grab win gave them renewed hope of making the Championship play-offs.

The hosts struggled to offer anything beyond long balls but Andreas Weimann did have their first effort as his run and shot crept past the post. The Austrian crashed a volley wide but it was Graham’s involvement that brought them closest to a leveller. The big striker turned at the edge of the area and let fly with a shot that seemed destined for the top corner – until Guzan brilliantly turned it over the bar. 

It’s hard to escape the impression of a team that’s gone about as far as its legs will carry it, walking home because it couldn’t afford the bus ticket and stumbling exhausted through the front door. That we’ve made it at all, let alone with several games to spare, is deeply, deeply admirable. But the eager zest that surrounds our best play has been replaced by something slightly heavier, slightly more saggy. One incident summed it up: Danny Graham breaking forward in the first half, delaying his pass too long, and running clumsily into a defender; just one moment, but so untypical of the player. We lacked a keen mental edge, a certain brightness. Who knows what effect a win might’ve had – that’s rather my point – but nothing about us suggests a team that’s ready to push on towards the playoffs.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2011-04-09
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/09-april-2011/