Monthly Archives: November 2024

30th November 2024- Championship, Watford 0 Queens Park Rangers 0

Report: Watford 0-0 QPR – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Watford extended their unbeaten home run to 15 matches as they played out a goalless draw with struggling QPR at Vicarage Road.

Sky: The hosts made it 15 home games without defeat to equal the run set by Graham Taylor’s side in 1997, but missed an opportunity to close in on the Championship automatic-promotion places.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 0 QPR 0

Watford 0 QPR 0 minute-by-minute match report

Five talking points: Not finding a way, another clean sheet and points progress

Cleverley: ‘I thought the result was a fair one’

Why Watford need to prevent the ice from forming this winter

Pollock says players ‘gutted and frustrated’ after QPR draw

Lack of quality in final third was rare off-day for forwards says Cleverley

BHappy: It’s a scruffy, hurtly, rattly game of football with all of the discipline and control of a wasp stuck in an overturned glass – and similar impotence.  This was Andrew Kitchen’s third irritating refereeing of a Watford game this season; he’s officiated three of the five games in which we’ve failed to score which is surely pure coincidence.  The irritating bit isn’t though and  it’s clear fairly quickly that he’s going to blow up every time anyone hits the deck.  QPR’s Japanese winger Saito skittles along at high speed and is going to win decisions as a consequence, any contact will send him over – though the highlights suggest a greater degree of cynicism on his part in this regard than we afforded him on our way back up Occupation Road afterwards.

Fran’s Watford Blog: It had been a much better half for the Hornets but, if the visitors had been able to shoot, they would have had 3 or 4. I guess that explains their league position. It was a frustrating afternoon. Chakvetadze has had a couple of disappointing games. He is so desperate to score that he repeatedly runs into defenders and loses possession. Louza continues to impress and looks as if he is enjoying his football again. Vata was a breath of fresh air when he came on, running for everything and the cheeky ball around Smyth was a thing of beauty. Also, it was lovely to see Ngakia back on the pitch after so long out with injury. One other thing of note during the game was Pollock standing in front of the opposition keeper when he was trying to set up the wall at a free kick. It was an annoying distraction and an interesting idea.

From The Rookery End: Were Watford held 0-0 at home to QPR or did the Golden Boys allow it? Jon, DCW, Paul from Denver and Adam Drury disucss the game. They also discuss how it might only be worth turning up at half time, how Tom Cleverley might still be searching for his best starting XI and when should we openly start saying the p word…. Play-offs?

26th November 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Bristol City 0

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Report: Watford 1-0 Bristol City – Watford FCDownload

BBC:Watford climbed into the Championship’s play-off positions with a narrow victory over Bristol City at Vicarage Road.

Sky: Andrews scored from his side’s only shot on target as the Hornets maintained their unbeaten run at home under manager Tom Cleverley.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Bristol City 0

Watford 1 Bristol City 0 minute-by-minute report

‘We have a way of being able to find a win here at home’

Let’s just enjoy that feeling of winning when we probably shouldn’t have

Fran’s Watford Blog: After the superb showing on Friday, this performance was rather disappointing, but the three points were very welcome. The visitors had dominated the first half, but the Hornets were much better in the second with the defence restricting the chances for the visitors. Sadly, the forward play was lacking. Louza was named Man of the Match by the sponsors, but Bachmann deservedly won out in the fan vote. He had an excellent game, pulling off some crucial saves. Having been impressed by the football played by the Hornets on Friday, I thought that there were too many loose and misplaced passes in this game. But a win always sends the crowd home happy and we can just hope for a better performance for the visit of QPR on Saturday.

22nd November 2024- Championship, Plymouth Argyle 2 Watford 2

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1  2

Report: Plymouth Argyle 2-2 Watford – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Andre Gray scored twice against his former club to salvage a point for struggling Plymouth Argyle as they drew 2-2 with Watford.

Sky: Gray smashed home from just inside the box after being teed up by substitute striker Mustapha Bundu in the sixth and final minute of stoppage-time.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Plymouth 2 Watford 2

Plymouth 2 Watford 2 minute-by-minute report

Watford boss points at failure to be clinical as two points slip away

Watford frustrated by a shade of Gray seldom seen at Vicarage Road

‘It is progress and I cannot be angry with that performance’

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was a very frustrating end to a game that the Hornets should have won. It was typical that Gray scored both of their goals, but it has to be said that they were both decent strikes. Sadly, Watford only had themselves to blame as they should have finished the game off. There were enough opportunities to do so, and they will be ruing the missed chances, particularly the Bayo one-on-one.

From the Rookery End: The fixture gods did not shine on Watford fans when a late November trip to Plymouth was announced, and got even worse with the move to the Friday evening. But the Hornets put in a great first half performance but couldn’t quite get it over the line after a very late goal from Andre Gray meant its was only 1 point a piece.

8th November 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Oxford United 0

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Report: Watford 1-0 Oxford United – Watford FCDownload

BBC: A second-half goal by Vakoun Bayo sent Watford fourth in the Championship as they held on to beat Oxford United.

Sky: Tom Cleverley’s hosts moved above Burnley, West Brom and Millwall thanks to a 54th-minute strike from the Ivory Coast forward, who had scored four times at Sheffield Wednesday last weekend but only once before that this term.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Oxford 0

Watford 1 Oxford 0 – the action as it happened

Players delivered half-time tactical changes perfectly says Cleverley

BHappy: It’s a long old time since Oxford were here last.  Twenty six years…  twenty six years and one day, in fact. The Oxford United of 1998 were in a sorry state on and off the pitch;  notoriously they had turned up without a change kit and ran out in our two-tone blue number, a version of which is up in the loft somewhere.  On the pitch they were hardly more competent, supine in rolling over to accommodate a routine home win that could have seen a bigger margin of victory.  More than half of the intervening period has been spent in the fourth tier, with four years spent outside the Football League altogether.

Fran’s Watford Blog: As the team celebrated, “Freed from Desire” started playing over the tannoy, the Vicarage Road faithful followed the prompt with a joyous chorus of “Bayo’s on Fire” which saw the man himself appearing out of the crowd of players dancing towards the Rookey with a beaming smile on his face. My smile was equally broad at this point.

From The Rookery End: First, Jon, Kieran, Jason and Jordi chat outside Vicarage Road, after the 1-0 home win against Oxford United. With a few faces, who we don’t see much, being given a chance to shine by Tom Cleverley, there were a few players and performances to pick apart. 

5th November 2024- Championship, Swansea City 1 Watford 0

Swansea produce an online only programme. https://www.swanseacity.com/swansea-city-v-watford-2024-25-programme

Report: Swansea City 1-0 Watford – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Swansea City moved to within two points of the Championship play-off places as Myles Peart-Harris’ first goal for the club proved enough to see off Watford.

Sky: It was the fourth time in seven home league games this season that the Swans had kept a clean sheet as they pegged back fifth-placed Watford and moved up four places to 10th in the table.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Swansea 1 Watford 0

Swansea 1 Watford 0 minute-by-minute report

‘We paid Swansea too much respect’ admits Cleverley

A winning ticket on Saturday but a loser from the Watford tombola last night

Cleverley felt he didn’t give his team any ‘tactical edge’

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was another disappointing showing on the road. To be fair, the second half performance had been much improved, and the Hornets created several chances from which they could have snatched a point, but that would have felt a bit fortunate. After the goal fest on Saturday, it was a disappointment that we didn’t manage a shot on target over the 90 minutes. There was certainly more energy when Baah came on, but he made some poor choices. The first half was too cautious against a team that concedes few goals. Too often there were misplaced passes or a run into an opposition player who dispossessed them. The second half saw more forward breaks, but the Swansea defence was very well organised and restricted the opportunities to shoot.

From The Rookery End: after an amazing away trip to Sheffield, the Brigadier, Colin Mace, made the trip down to South Wales to see Watford lose 1-0 at Swansea.

2nd November 2024- Championship, Sheffield Wednesday 2 Watford 6

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Report: Sheffield Wednesday 2-6 Watford – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Vakoun Bayo scored four second-half goals in an astonishing individual display as Watford netted five times after the break to crush Sheffield Wednesday and end a run of five consecutive away league defeats.

Sky: Michael Smith quickly cancelled out Ryan Porteous’ opener before penalties from Tom Ince and Bayo put Watford in the driving seat. Bayo bagged his second and claimed the match ball either side of Pol Valentin’s reply for the Owls and then claimed his fourth in the closing stages.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Sheff Wed 2 Watford 6

Sheffield Wednesday 2 Watford 6 – how the action happened

Cleverley happy if incredible away win leads to increased expectations

Brilliant Bayo is four-midable as Watford end away hoodoo in style

Ince is ‘the player we have been missing in some of our inconsistent days’

Cleverley happy away fans saw five goals at their end

Bayo’s beautiful chip a result of excellent opposition analysis

Fans at Hillsborough witnessed a slice of Hornets history

BHappy: Not confident, no.  Not with our away record.  Not with our soft underbelly, our demonstrated tendency to get overwhelmed by sides that put us under pressure.  I wasn’t here expecting this sort of outcome… 

Fran’s Watford Blog: The post-match celebrations were joyous. Bayo picked up the match ball from the referee and filmed himself and the crowd who were blasting out “Bayo’s on Fire”. I was so thrilled for him. He has been given so much grief by the crowd for his failures in front of goal but has never hidden. He was absolutely superb on this occasion, a little bit of confidence allowing him to score goals that you know he would have missed on another occasion. He was man of the match by a country mile, but there were plenty of other great performances. I was impressed by Dwomah who fitted in very nicely so that we didn’t miss Sissoko. I was disappointed that Ebosele did not start, but he did very well when he came on. The score doesn’t tell the full story of the game as Wednesday had been tough opponents until the second goal went in when they collapsed.

From the Rookery End: Watford scored a rare SIX on the road and FOUR Vakoun Bayo goals made the LONG journey to Sheffield oh so worthwhile.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/03-november-2024/