Category Archives: December

4th December 2018- Premier League, Watford 1 Manchester City 2

Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1

RELIVE – Watford vs Manchester City: Premier League leaders hold on to deny Hornets

Watford vs Manchester City: Abdoulaye Doucoure goal not enough for Hornets

Watford vs Manchester City: Javi Gracia proud of Hornets’ efforts

Player ratings: Ben Foster best of the bunch as Watford lose to Manchester City

Watford vs Manchester City: Ben Foster confident Hornets will build on display against Premier League leaders

Watford: Domingos Quina wants more after making Premier League debut against Manchester City

Leaders Manchester City survived a late scare to see off Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night.

The reigning champions had controlled Tuesday’s game and led through goals from Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez but Abdoulaye Doucoure scrambled in for Watford in the 85th minute to give the hosts hope of an unlikely comeback. Watford sent goalkeeper Ben Foster forward for set-pieces in a frantic finish, with Guardiola introducing defensive reinforcements to deal with the pressure, but the visitors held on for their seventh successive league win.

Abdoulaye Doucouré bundled in an 85th-minute goal and City ended the match sucked into a pressure situation. Defending set pieces, all hands to the pump, nerves on edge, it was a reminder of how quickly, and how dangerously, control can evaporate.

It would be unfair to overlook the level of City’s dominance for most of this game against a club that for the last two seasons has beaten the reigning champions at Vicarage Road.

As this was Watford’s “rainbow laces” game in support of LGBT+ inclusion in sport, the 1881 and the Proud Hornets had worked together to put on a rainbow banner display in the Rookery, which was absolutely magnificent.

1st December 2018- Premier League, Leicester City 2 Watford 0

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Leicester City vs Watford: Relive coverage of the Hornets’ trip to the King Power Stadium

Leicester City vs Watford: Etienne Capoue is sent off late as Hornets beaten

Leicester City vs Watford: Javi Gracia says Hornets will appeal Etienne Capoue red card

Leicester City boss Claude Puel thanks Watford fans for supportive banner

RATINGS: How we scored Watford in their defeat to Leicester City

IN PICTURES: Images from Watford’s defeat at Leicester City

Jamie Vardy and James Maddison’s first-half goals gave Leicester a 2-0 win over Watford in the Premier League on Saturday, as the visitors winless run extended to four games.

Vardy’s run off the shoulder of Watford defenders Craig Cathcart and Adrian Mariappa resulted in Foster clattering in to him for the Leicester penalty – the 13th the former England forward has converted out of 15 attempts in the top flight. And a sweeping riposte initiated by Maddison from a Watford attack then brought the second goal, with Vardy turning Mariappa and Albrighton picking out the midfielder, who had raced 50 yards to receive his pass.

Watford fans were given free food and drink at Saturday’s Premier League game at Leicester after displaying a banner dedicated to the club’s late owner.

Watford have won two of their past 11 games and missed fine chances through Isaac Success and Andre Gray. Their misery was underlined when Capoue was shown a red card a minute from the end.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Prior to the teams taking the field, the 1881 unveiled two banners that they had crowdfunded to pay tribute to Khun Vichai and the other victims of the tragic helicopter crash. When the large one was unfurled, I found myself under it, but I could see the Leicester fans in the stand to the left of us and they were all on their feet applauding. After a short time the banner was surfed across the stand and it was lovely to see it move from the away to the home stand and to be moved around as it would have been in the Rookery. The appreciation of the home fans was reflected by the Leicester announcer who started his reading of the team sheets with “To the Watford fans, thank-you.”

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30th December 2017- Premier League, Watford 1 Swansea City 2

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1

Watford Observer

Relive Watford v Swansea City: Hornets bottle another victory to somehow lose at home to Swans

Watford again pay price for failing to kill a game in Swansea City defeat

‘We made enough chances to win’ says Watford head coach Marco Silva after Swansea City defeat

‘I didn’t see much of a foul’ says Marco Silva of Molla Wague’s disallowed header

Watford vs Swansea City ratings: Hornets defenders struggle as Swans mount late comeback

Watford vs Swansea City: Defeat hard to take for Ben Watson after missed chances

Swansea City staged a remarkable late fightback to beat Watford and give Carlos Carvalhal victory in his first game in charge of the Welsh side, lifting them off the bottom of the table.

Goals from Jordan Ayew and Luciano Narsingh saw Swansea stage a dramatic late comeback to earn a 2-1 win at Watford and move off the bottom of the Premier League table.

For Watford, this was a chastening defeat. Ahead in the match from the 10th minute after André Carrillo headed home, it appeared that they were cruising to victory. But Marco Silva’s men should have known that appearances can be deceptive. They seemed sure that a second goal would eventually arrive, but never actually scored it and have now given up more points from a winning position this season than any other club in the Premier League.

For f***’s sake…

It is difficult to put into words how I felt after the game. It had been incredibly frustrating as Watford were so much better than their opponents who showed little in the way of threat. But the longer the game stayed at 1-0, the more likely it appeared that Swansea would leave Vicarage Road with at least a point. It had been incredibly dull for most of the ninety minutes and Pete’s observation that the second half appeared as if it was being played at London Colney summed it up perfectly. There was no sense of urgency or pressing to get a second goal and it cost us dearly.

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26th December 2017- Premier League, Watford 2 Leicester City 1

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1 2

Watford Observer

Watford v Leicester City live: Kasper Schmeichel own goal adds to Molla Wague goal as Hornets come from behind to beat Foxes

Watford come from behind to beat Leicester City and end six-game winless run

Marco Silva believes Watford showed ‘great character’ in Leicester City win

Heurelho Gomes singled out for praise by Watford head coach Marco Silva after saves in Leicester City win

Watford fans’ view: Hornets looking back to their best in Leicester City win

Heurelho Gomes relieved after helping Watford to Leicester City win

Watford v Leicester City ratings: Heurelho Gomes, Molla Wague and Andre Carrillo superb in Hornets’ comeback victory

Ben Watson delighted to seize Watford chance after ‘tough’ 18 months out of the side

Watford boss Marco Silva says he was never worried about their bad form, as they beat Leicester City to end a six-game winless run.

Watford picked up a first win in seven games after coming from behind to earn a 2-1 victory over Leicester at Vicarage Road on Boxing Day.

Watford have bemoaned their misfortune in recent weeks but here Marco Silva’s team were grateful for the unwitting assistance of Kasper Schmeichel as they fought back from a deficit to end a miserable series of results. The Leicester City goalkeeper turned a cross by Abdoulaye Doucouré into his own net in the 65th minute to complete Watford’s comeback after Molla Wagué had negated Riyad Mahrez’s opening goal for the visitors.

Yes, Swansea on Saturday looked a winnable fixture, maybe, but the gentle descent in our recent run from the forgivable through the slightly unfortunate to the downright appalling hadn’t left us banking on anything much.

After a lovely Christmas day with the family, it was off to Vicarage Road to see if we could arrest the recent slump. The Boxing Day game is one of the first that I look for when the fixtures come out. I always look forward to them, even if they rarely give us anything to cheer (I am still smarting from the injury time goal by Kirk Stephens in 1979).

After four defeats on the bounce, Watford returned to winning ways on a tense Boxing Day afternoon at The Vic.

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23rd December 2017- Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Watford 0

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Watford Observer

Brighton vs Watford: Pascal Gross condemns Hornets to fourth Premier League loss on the spin

Watford beaten at Brighton & Hove Albion to suffer fourth straight defeat

Watford boss Marco Silva gives his view on the 1-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion

Watford boss rubbishes talk of any link between a downturn in results since Everton approach

Brighton vs Watford ratings: A day to forget as Hornets suffer fourth straight Premier League loss

Pascal Gross struck the winner as Brighton earned their first Premier League victory in eight games – on the day Seagulls defender Connor Goldson played his first competitive game since heart surgery.

Brighton’s first goal from open play in over 10 hours of Premier League football was enough to earn a 1-0 victory against Watford at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.

Sleigh bells were jingling and nerves were jangling but Brighton clung on to earn three precious points. Their first win in eight games means they are now in mid-table, five points clear of the drop. It is a position that could quickly change and, once again, the narrow margin of victory did not allow for a sense of comfort to spread over the home supporters. But there were more than enough positives for fans and club alike to believe things are moving in the right direction.

Our last visit to Brighton was memorable for all the right reasons. After taking the lead in the first half, the game had been a bit of a slog, before Vydra’s injury time goal sent us all away happy. It having been the lunchtime game, we retired to a lovely pub and, after spending the preceding couple of hours in the garden anxiously checking phones, we interrupted a quiet afternoon by erupting in joy as last minute goals confirmed our promotion.

A miserable day on the South coast just before Christmas meant Watford succumbed to their fourth consecutive defeat.

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16th December 2017- Premier League, Watford 1 Huddersfield Town 4

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clips of Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goal: 1

Watford Observer

RELIVE – Watford humbled by Huddersfield in Vicarage Road shocker

Troy Deeney sees red Watford crash to abysmal defeat to Huddersfield Town

Watford vs Huddersfield Town: David Wagner delighted with “extraordinary” Premier League win

Marco Silva admits Watford’s Huddersfield Town humbling was worst performance under him

Watford’s Marco Silva declines to comment on Troy Deeney after another indiscretion

Watford vs Huddersfield Town ratings: Jose Holebas and Troy Deeney worst offenders in shambolic Premier League display

Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner said his side are halfway to Premier League survival after their 4-1 win at Watford.

Aaron Mooy scored twice as Huddersfield thrashed Watford 4-1 with both sides finishing with 10 men amid controversy at Vicarage Road.

For Huddersfield Town, this was proof that football has a tendency to reward the teams who never give up. They had gone 738 minutes without a goal in all competitions on the road, but they are no longer weighed down by that unfortunate statistic.

It’s not always Huddersfield, but it does tend to be Huddersfield quite a lot. The notorious end-of-season calamity under Beppe Sannino was worse than this, except that it probably mattered less. Then there was an incongruous defeat in West Yorkshire during our promotion season when Miguel Layún got rinsed on his debut and promotion felt less than a done deal. And then there was this one almost exactly seventeen years ago; the nadir of the collapse of GT’s last season afforded appropriate disdain by my co-editor who had the good sense not to come up from Hastings on this occasion. Him and a good number of others, the nominal and now traditional 20k gate including a good number present in Season Ticket but not in body.

If the first Huddersfield goal had been scrappy, the second was a horror show. The Watford defence appeared to stop playing as Holebas allowed Quaner to escape and deliver a low cross which flew across the goal to Mooy who had the easy task of tapping it home. In the Rookery, we were looking at each other in disbelief at what we had just seen.

Sorry there has been a error, why on earth would you want to relive that. Enjoy your Sunday, forget about that performance please.

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