Monthly Archives: April 2015

25th April 2015- Championship, Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Watford 2

The game was televised so kicked off earlier than the other Championship games but our win coupled with Norwich drawing at Rotherham and Middlesbrough losing to Fulham meant we were promoted to the Premier League.

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To mark the 50th anniversary of Brighton’s Fourth Division Championship title they repeated the programme from the match that won them the title.

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=5167

  Goal: 1   2

BBC SportWatford clinched promotion to the Premier League after they beat Brighton and other results went their way.

skyMiddlesbrough slumped to a 4-3 defeat at Fulham and Norwich could only draw 1-1 at Rotherham, sealing Watford’s return to the top flight after an eight-year absence.

guardianWatford’s lunchtime win on the south coast put them four points clear of the chasing pack thanks to Troy Deeney’s first-half goal and a stoppage time second from the substitute Matej Vydra.

BHappy imageFootball is about waiting for moments that might never arrive, about playing them through in your imagination over and over, about being there to see if it happens…and then finding Matej Vydra taking what seems like an age to control the ball, threatening to let that moment slip away, and then sliding it calmly into the bottom corner before the whole world turns yellow and red and inside out and upside down.

The Watford Observer produced a supplement marking the Hornets promotion which included several pictures from the game and the celebrations that followed.

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https://oldwatford.com/2015/05/02/2nd-may-2015-championship-watford-1-sheffield-wednesday-1/

18th April 2015- Championship, Watford 1 Birmingham City 0

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=5166

BBC SportCraig Cathcart’s stunning goal gave Watford a narrow victory over Birmingham as they moved top of the Championship and ensured automatic promotion is in their own hands.

skyThe Hornets went into the game knowing a win would take them back into the automatic promotion places following Middlesbrough’s victory at Norwich on Friday.

BHappy imageWe’ve not half had some games against this lot.  Some will remember victory in the Cup in 1960…  Cliff Holton helping the fourth division newly-christened Hornets to knock top-flight Blues out in front of 31,000 at the Vic.  In 1984 perhaps the most impressive single result of our run to the Cup Final came at St Andrews; Ron Saunders’ aggressive side came into the game on the back of a twelve-match unbeaten run in the top flight and had the majority of a 40,000 crowd behind them.  John Barnes ripped them to bits.  In 1999 a play-off semi-final concluded with an epic penalty shoot out that resulted in our second trip to Wembley.

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https://oldwatford.com/2015/05/02/2nd-may-2015-championship-watford-1-sheffield-wednesday-1/

11th April 2015- Championship, Millwall 0 Watford 2

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

BBC: Watford remain just one point behind leaders Bournemouth after comfortably beating struggling Millwall.  The Hornets took the lead when Matej Vydra volleyed Ikechi Anya’s pullback into the corner from 20 yards. Midfielder Adlene Guedioura made it 2-0 from close range after a slick combination from Troy Deeney and Anya.

BHappy: We were celebrating the first almost before it had connected with Matej Vydra’s boot: the ball from Iketchi Anya was just so, Vydra’s body shape left nothing to accident, the keeper was beaten already. Wallop. The second was a pure joy, a moment where it all slots together into place, just like it does on the training ground. Here to there, inside, across, and there we go. Both goals where you don’t even see the opposition shirts, rendered irrelevant by the precision of it all. You don’t have to be that good very often to win games at this level; once or twice will do it, provided you don’t self-destruct at the other end. We could’ve had more, probably should’ve had more, but the margin of victory seems about right. There isn’t a lot else to say.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Watford nerves were settled just before the hour mark as Vydra played the ball to Deeney who advanced before passing to Anya who cut the ball back to Guedioura who fired past Forde in front of the travelling fans who erupted for yet another mental celebration.

Observer, 12 Apr 2015

6th April 2015- Championship, Watford 2 Middlesbrough 0

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=5163

BBC SportTroy Deeney became the first Watford player to score 20 goals in three successive seasons as Middlesbrough lost their place at the Championship summit.

skyMiddlesbrough moved back to the top of the table with a 1-0 win over Wigan on Friday, but they were knocked off the summit within three days by Watford, who moved into pole position themselves before being usurped by Bournemouth and Norwich later on Easter Monday.

TelegraphWatford actually grew stronger as the game went on, and could have won by a wider margin than two. Even more encouraging was the way they defended the threat of Patrick Bamford, one of the Championship’s in-form strikers, who barely got a sight of goal.

guardian With his stilted English delivered in unwavering monotone, Slavisa Jokanovic – Watford’s fourth manager of the season – seems an unlikely inspiration but in these most pressured circumstances his side produced probably their most convincing display of the season.

BHappy imageAitor Karanka was later to join the ranks of managers complaining about our strike threat as if it’s some kind of unfair advantage, like a twelfth player or a bribed referee.

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3rd April 2015- Championship, Derby County 2 Watford 2

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

BBC: Derby thwarted Watford’s bid to go to the top of the Championship but remain without a win in seven matches after Odion Ighalo struck a late equaliser. Watford took the lead through Matej Vydra but were reduced to 10 men when Marco Motti tripped Johnny Russell in first-half stoppage time. Darren Bent levelled from the resulting penalty before fellow loanee Tom Ince put the hosts ahead after the break.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The whistle went to huge cheers from the travelling Hornets. The Derby players slumped to the ground, they needed 3 points from this game. Our lads were completely exhausted and I was trembling due to the stress of the previous 20 minutes. The players were given such a rapturous reception that you would have thought they’d won the game. Nobody seemed to want to leave the away stand, it was reminiscent of games in the 80s when we were kept in for 15 minutes after the final whistle. So we were all still there when Guedioura came over after receiving his man of the match award and was given a hero’s ovation and responded in kind.

Northern Echo, 3 Apr 2015
Guardian, 4 Apr 2015
Northern Echo, 4 Apr 2015
Guardian, 4 Apr 2015