Category Archives: March

6th March 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Swansea City 1

https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-swansea-city/teams/485133

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1

Sky: Watford have still not won at home in the league since November 28. Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann was brought back for a first Watford appearance in the league since three days before that win.

BBC: The Hornets fell behind in comical fashion early on when goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann raced out of his goal and teenage full-back Ryan Andrews headed into his own net.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Swansea 1

The painful, limping journey to getting safe goes on

When you’re lacking confidence, what you don’t need is a bad start

‘When you start to lose games then you overthink as a player’

Fran’s Watford Blog: There were a couple of boos at the end, which I thought were totally undeserved given the second half performance.  Thankfully, the crowd who gathered along the front of the Rookery were there to cheer the players rather than berate them.  It had been a much better second half with lots of attacking play from the Hornets and plenty of shots, even if they struggled to get many on target.  The goal had been a terrible one to give away, but they recovered well and grew in confidence as the game went on.  It was the best we have seen from the Hornets in some time, and it was great to be in the Rookery with people on their feet cheering the lads on.  Coventry will be a different prospect than Swansea, but let’s hope that this improvement continues to the weekend.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68420955

2nd March 2024- Championship, Millwall 1 Watford 0

Watford Observer: Talking through the problem has worked already this season

Although Millwall no longer produce an official programme their supporters club does produce one for every home game.
https://www.skysports.com/football/millwall-vs-watford/teams/485114

Sky: Zian Flemming’s early free-kick was enough for Millwall to defeat Watford 1-0 at The Den and make it two wins from two since manager Neil Harris’ return to the club.

BBC: Flemming beat keeper Ben Hamer from 30 yards as Valerien Ismael’s Hornets suffered their fifth defeat in six games, a run which looks to have put them out of contention for a play-off place.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Millwall 1 Watford 0

When you’ve got a trigger-happy owner, displays like this won’t discourage him

‘Game management was not good’ as Watford chased for 88 minutes

Andrews’ Dad’s late-night social media posts about defender’s absence

BHappy: It hasn’t been a great start.  Millwall are boisterous from the off;  we look hung over.  Edo Kayembe swings a boot at the ball and clumsily takes out his opponent instead in the first minute;  clearly a foul, but Gavin Ward feels the room and sets a suitable tone of irritating, pedantic inconsistency for the afternoon by booking Kayembe and then not booking Millwall left wing-back McNamara for a similar foul minutes later.  By that time Jake Livermore has given away a stupid, cheap free kick with a shove in the back that was probably visible from the crowded alleys of Borough Market.  Zian Flemming takes an ambitious shot that deflects off the back of the jumping, twisting Asprilla and squirms past Ben Hamer who, one imagines, might feel he could have done rather better, deflection or otherwise.

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was another disappointing afternoon of football.  The game was completely dominated by the Hornets but the early goal for Millwall meant that they were happy to sit back and soak up the pressure.  They defended in numbers and the Hornets struggled to break them down.  The positive was that it was a much livelier performance than against Huddersfield but, as so often this season, despite dominating possession and having more shots, the keeper, Šarkić, wasn’t really troubled.  The lack of confidence in the team was particularly apparent in the performance of Hamer, who made two glaring errors.  But there were plenty of others who made poor decisions leading to misplaced passes and wayward shots.  After this poor run of results, while we are still mid-table, we are looking down rather than up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68389100

18th March 2023- Championship, Watford 1 Wigan Athletic 1

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1

Attendance: 18,523

BBC Sport: Wigan battled to a point with a rearguard display against Watford but remain six points from safety at the bottom of the Championship as their dismal run extended to just one win in 17 games.

Sky Sports: James McClean’s 51st minute goal earned the visitors a point, after Keinan Davis had given the hosts the lead just before half-time.

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was a very dispirited group that convened back at the West Herts.  Yet again, we had failed to win a game that was there for the taking.  The lively first half had given way to a more nervous second period in which the Hornets played far too many passes around the box and made far too few incursions in.  The game wasn’t helped by an opposition that were time wasting from early in the first half.  But we have played many such teams this season and really have to learn how to deal with these tactics.

14th March 2023- Championship, Watford 3 Birmingham City 0

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1  2  3

Attendance: 18,403

BBC Sport: Watford gave new manager Chris Wilder a perfect first night at Vicarage Road with a comfortable win over Birmingham City.

Sky Sports: Imran Louza and Keinan Davis scored within the first 16 minutes of a painful evening for Blues manager John Eustace – a former Hornets captain as a player. Birmingham improved in the second half but could not prevent substitute Britt Assombalonga from adding a third.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Birmingham gaffer (and former Watford captain) John Eustace was welcomed back.  Troy Deeney was out injured but my sister told me that he had taken an age to get from the SEJ to the GT stand as he was stopped by every other person.  Tim then introduced Chris Wilder to the (very sparse) crowd, and he was given a warm welcome. 

11th March 2023- Championship, Queens Park Rangers 1 Watford 0

Attendance: 17,247

BBC Sport: Queens Park Rangers earned their first victory under boss Gareth Ainsworth and ended a 13-game winless run by condemning Watford to defeat in Chris Wilder’s first match in charge.

Sky Sports: Iroegbunam strode forward, rode a weak challenge from Hamza Choudhury and fired a shot beyond Watford keeper Daniel Bachmann and into the bottom corner of the net.

BHappy: This is a monumentally terrible game of football.  The hosts play a full and effective role in this outcome, for all that they deservedly win it…  indeed, it’s not stretching the truth too much to suggest that for all of our failure to look remotely threatening (again), it could have gone a very different way had it been us that pulled a goal out of nowhere rather than Rangers.  Arguing that “If we’d scored and they hadn’t we’d have won the game” doesn’t add much in terms of insight admittedly but… Tim Iroegbunam’s fine finish, abetted fully by hapless non-challenges from Choudhury and Porteous and perhaps by Bachmann’s positioning, was a startling outbreak of competence on an afternoon distinctly lacking in similar from either side. 

4th March 2023- Championship, Watford 0 Preston North End 0

Slaven Bilic’s final game as Head Coach.

Attendance: 19,244

BBC Sport: The Hornets’ best chance came mid-way through the second half as Ismaila Sarr volleyed just wide from a Ken Sema cross.

Sky Sports: The contest had all the excitement of a pre-season friendly for much of the afternoon, with Preston keeper Freddie Woodman producing the only two saves of note during 90 forgettable minutes.

BHappy: After the break as the half time introductions of Davis and Asprilla offer us at least the suggestion of potency, the visitors resort to base thuggery.  Bambo Diaby is a centre back in the Dan Shittu mould… outstanding at anything asking questions of his physical attributes, he does as good a job of standing up to  Keinan Davis as anyone has this season.  Anything that requires defensive nous or, you know, a football however and he’s less effective – he gives the ball away clumsily in midfield on two occasions as the chinks in North End’s considerable armour begin to show, and manages to avoid censure for sacking Ryan Porteous at a corner. 

Fran’s Watford blog: I was in Watford bright and early on Saturday to attend the Match of the Century at the West Herts, which was celebrating 100 years at Vicarage Road for the Hornets and 100 years of local sport at the West Herts.  The two teams were the West Herts football team and a team made up of Watford fans who had bid to be part of the Watford Centurion team.  West Herts wore the yellow, red and green shirts that the club wore in 1901.  The Centurions wore the current third kit that was worn by the club when Vicarage Road opened.  It was a competitive game that West Herts won 3-0, despite a decent performance from Matthew Archer in the Centurions’ goal and a lively cameo from young Alastair Grass.  The defeat for the Centurions was hardly surprising, given that they had only met that morning, but it could not be blamed on Tommy Mooney, their manager, who was taking his role very seriously so could not be approached to sign copies of the Watford Treasury until after the game.