Category Archives: February

25th February 2023- Championship, Sheffield United 1 Watford 0

Attendance: 29,132

BBC Sport: Sheffield United restored a seven-point cushion in the race for automatic promotion after an own goal from Ryan Porteous sealed victory against Championship play-off hopefuls Watford.

Sky Sports: After 73 minutes, United finally found the net for what proved to be the winner. Norwood’s corner found McBurnie at the far post, whose header back across goal caused an unfortunate Porteous to turn the ball into his own net.

BHappy: For all that we’re going to leave Bramall Lane far grumpier than we walked into it, there are positives to take from the afternoon.  The first is that whilst Ferreira and Kamara are perhaps the two of the remaining absentees most obviously candidates for a swift return to the starting eleven, both deputy full-backs excelled again here and will take some displacing.  Mario Gaspar suddenly looks very far from the busted flush that we feared we’d been lumbered with earlier in the season, whilst James Morris has lost all of his tentativeness and is confident enough to play himself out of trouble with his weaker foot at one point.  He also hammers up and down the left flank relentlessly, frequently the source of the ball into the box displaying an aggression in attacking areas that we need rather more of.  His wonderful ball from the touchline on the sprint in the second half finds Davis at the far post, who chests the ball lamely at Foderingham.  This is a dreadful miss – dumping in a far post header like this should be food and drink to a big centre forward.

Fran’s Watford Blog: As we reflected on the day, and the season so far, there was a lack of enthusiasm for the play-offs or for us to get promoted.  We are not strong enough and another season of consolidation and growth would be preferable to getting beaten every week.  Anyway, most of us old folk quite like going to games in the Championship.

20th February 2023- Championship, Watford 3 West Bromwich Albion 2

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1  2  3

Attendance: 18,634

BBC Sport: Watford saw off a spirited West Bromwich Albion side in an entertaining contest at Vicarage Road to move back into the Championship play-off places.

Sky Sports: There was little sign of the drama to follow when Watford were jeered by their own support barely 10 minutes into a lifeless start at Vicarage Road, between two sides short of form and confidence.

BHappy: Slaven Bilić had intimated that it was time we started scoring a few more goals;  this was as true off the pitch as much as on it since an official crowd of 18634 failed to reflect the increasingly sparse home stands (not so the right hand side of the Vic Road End, where Albion have taken every seat).  There’s a cumulative effect of, in practice, watching successive relegation seasons and flattering to deceive in this, what should be the one fun season in two.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The Hornets opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, Gaspar played the ball across to Davis whose shot was blocked, and the ball fell to Sema who turned it in.

14th February 2023- Championship, Burnley 1 Watford 1

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Attendance: 18393

BBC Sport: Burnley’s hopes of a record-breaking 11th straight Championship win were dashed as they were held to a draw by Watford at Turf Moor.

Sky Sports: A first-half finish from Joao Pedro gave the Hornets the lead but Vincent Kompany’s men escaped with a point after Obafemi popped up deep into stoppage time.

Fran’s Watford Blog: In the end, a draw was a fair result, although it was very disappointing to concede right at the end having defended resolutely.  The second half had been a real rearguard effort, but the chances for Burnley were again restricted.  Hoedt and Porteous are looking really solid in the centre of defence, you would think that they had been playing together for years.  What was especially pleasing was that it was a real team effort.  The past couple of performances have been building to this and it was great to see the Hornets matching the team that are running away with the division.  I was interested to hear the views of the Happy Valleys, who generally only see the games we play in the North.  They were all very impressed and said that they hadn’t seen anything like that performance so far this season.  It was certainly in stark contrast to their last match in Middlesbrough.  The signs were very encouraging indeed and, with performances like that, we now need fear nobody in this division.

11th February 2023- Championship, Watford 1 Blackburn Rovers 1

WFC Net Goal Commentary: 1

Attendance: 19,294

BBC Sport: Bradley Dack scored his 50th league goal for Blackburn as they earned a point against play-off rivals Watford at Vicarage Road.

Sky Sports: Head coach Slaven Bilic bought on Tom Cleverley, who made his first appearance since Burnley in August 2022. The change gave Watford a boost and they equalised in the 73rd minute. Blackburn failed to clear a free-kick, and Hoedt marked his debut with a fine first-time effort on the edge of the area which Pears could not deal with.

BHappy: There’s no avoiding the game’s star turn. João Pedro doesn’t so much run as skate around the pitch;   he’s the first to draw blood, breaking on the right after a one-two with Martins and sliding an evil low ball in towards Araújo that absolutely needs to be cut out  at the near post and is, on the slide, by a Rovers centre back.   Later, both Daughters will reply “João Pedro” with an unspoken “obviously” subtext when their Grandad asks them who their current favourite player is at the top of Occupation Road.  Daughter 1 will be sullen at her ongoing unwanted record of (thanks to two relegation seasons and unfortunate match selection) not having seen a win since New Years Day 2020 – she’d been excitedly incredulous (“really???”) when I recklessly suggested at kick off that today could be the day.

Fran’s Watford Blog: At half time, there was a lovely tribute to Oli Phillips.  His family were guests of the club and his daughter said a few words.  Then Andrew French spoke very warmly about Oli who had been both a mentor and a friend.  The dedication of the media suite to his memory was a lovely gesture and the decorations both at the entrance and inside showing Oli wearing his trademark fedora were just gorgeous.

Taken by Alan Cozzi
https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/23316909.watford-pays-tribute-legendary-reporter-blackburn-rovers-draw/

Watford Observer: Watford pays tribute to legendary reporter in Blackburn Rovers draw

4th February 2023- Championship, Reading 2 Watford 2

Attendance: 13,861

BBC Sport: Ismaila Sarr’s close-range effort put the Hornets in front after half an hour as Watford had the better of the first period. The visitors doubled their lead shortly after the break as debutant Ryan Porteous headed in a corner, while Sarr had a third disallowed soon after for offside.

Sky Sports: Reading, though, reduced the deficit in the 66th minute from a Tom Ince penalty and levelled 10 minutes from time through a superb Jeff Hendrick volley.

BHappy: I can’t claim to have had a close relationship with Oli Phillips.  We met a couple of times, he was kind enough to provide some appropriate words for the back of the book. Others have written meaningful and informed testimonies about the man himself. I often find my reaction to the passing of people that I didn’t know personally… stilted.  Limited, even if they were people I kind of respected.  I remember my now wife being aghast at my lack of hand-wringing  when Diana passed away, horrible and tragic as that was.  But the passing of someone who…  you rely on in some sense, or have relied on, is different. 

Fran’s Watford Blog: Last week we heard the sad news of the passing of Oli Phillips.  His reports about the Hornets in the Watford Observer were a vital ingredient to my falling in love with the club.  I had the paper on order at the local newsagents and, when I was away at university, my Mum would keep the pile of papers for my return.  Later, when I was on the board of the Supporters’ Trust, Oli was very helpful to me, calling from France to chat through his knowledge of some of the behind the scenes stuff that we were looking into.  It is fitting that the Media Suite at Vicarage Road has been named after Oli and I am so glad that he was made aware of it before he died.

2 Feb 2023- Watford Observer’s Oliver Phillips passes away

Oli was the chief writer about Watford FC for the Watford Observer for many many years. In the days before the internet fans would buy the paper in their thousands on a Friday to get all the latest news from Vicarage Road and read Oli’s ‘Just a Thought’ column. In 1991 he wrote the Official Club Centenary book. To those of us of a certain age he was as well known and linked with the club as Luther Blissett or Graham Taylor.

Official site tribute

Former sports editor Oli Phillips dies aged 81

The gifted journalist who became a Watford legend

‘A light has gone out in the press box at Vicarage Road’

Readers and ex-colleagues remember legendary Watford FC correspondent

Just one week before he died the club announced that they would be naming the Media Suite after Oli.

Official site: Media Suite: Club Honours Oliver Phillips