Category Archives: Ray Lewington

6th December 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Nottingham Forest 1

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BSAD report:As is regularly mentioned on these very pages, the First Division of the Nationwide Football League is a very strange place. There are games that delight you, the recent trip to Norwich being one. There are games of free-flowing football with goal scoring chances aplenty and excitement beyond compare. There are also wars of attrition, games high on honest toil and endeavour, but low on skill, thrills and entertainment. Frankly, they are best described as dull. The fact that this is a third (or fourth, I lost count) attempt at writing this report flings this game into the final, instantly forgettable category.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=42270&id=4581

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22nd November 2003- New Division One, Watford 0 West Ham United 0

So, West Ham are in the First Division again. Judging by the sell-out crowd, this is the cause of some excitement, a bit of a novelty. A nail bar in an old-fashioned part of town, rapidly becoming part of the scenery. Nottingham Forest. Derby County. Sheffield Wednesday. Sunderland. Queens Park Rangers. Norwich City. And so on. It happens very quickly indeed, and you suspect that this fixture will probably be taking place in front of, say, seventeen thousand people next season. Fourteen thousand in two years. Still, ‘Ammers fans, it’s not all doom and gloom…the weather might’ve perked up by then, eh?

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=39623&id=4579

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-11-22

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/22-november-2003/

1st November 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Rotherham United 0

Danny Webber claimed his fourth goal of the campaign as his solitary strike earned Watford the victory over Rotherham, despite the heroics of the visitors’ stand-in goalkeeper Gary Montgomery.

You’d rather hope that our ambitions might stretch a little further than that, of course. Being a bit better than Bradford isn’t exactly a towering achievement, after all. But it’ll do for now, I guess. For all that the season started with fairly high expectations, not being in the bottom three seems like a useful point from which to begin again. It could be worse. And it might get better.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=35051&id=4575

21st October 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Coventry City 1

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

BBC: Veteran defender Steve Staunton struck in injury time to earn Coventry a point against Watford at Vicarage Road. Scott Fitzgerald had looked to have won the game with a goal seven minutes from time until Staunton lashed home a volley.

Daily Telegraph, 22 Oct 2003

Evening Standard, 22 Oct 2003

BSAD: A reminder, if we needed it, that beating a team as appalling as Bradford is nothing much in itself, merely something to build upon. And we weren’t building upon it. Instead, Coventry were so much more lively, quickly over-running a midfield that suddenly seemed too lightweight, attacking a defence that suddenly looked rather vulnerable. Jack Smith was in for one of those games in which you gain experience rather than confidence, often out-numbered without sufficient protection from those in front of him; Sean Dyche was to be tested too, albeit that he looked rather more like his old self than on several recent occasions. We were already looking towards half-time.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-10-21

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/21-october-2003/

18th October 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Bradford City 0

Scott Fitzgerald’s fourth goal of the season gave Watford a deserved victory against their fellow Division One strugglers. The Hornets dominated but had to wait until the 61st minute for the breakthrough when Fitzgerald converted Micah Hyde’s cross.

It would be very easy indeed to get carried away by this most comprehensive of victories. We shouldn’t, for it is impossible to escape the fact that Bradford were utter drivel, barely bothering to turn up for a match that quickly became almost farcical. Before kickoff, you looked over to the Vic Road end to pick out a few meagre handfuls of away supporters, clustered like flea-bitten regulars around the bar of a particularly dingy, long-forgotten backstreet pub. After kickoff, you realised that travelling hundreds of miles to watch such a sorry bunch might not come top of your things-to-do list either. They were simply dreadful.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=32177&id=4571

14th October 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Walsall 1

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Watford had a Chris Baird own-goal to thank for a share of the spoils against Walsall at Vicarage Road.

BSAD report: As match reports go, this one seems about as pointless as the game itself. That is, it would’ve suited everyone if Ray Lewington had been able to make a phonecall to Colin Lee, negotiate a one-all draw, and save the trouble of a Tuesday night spent watching nonsense and listening to nonsense. And save me the trouble of a Wednesday morning spent writing (about) nonsense. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t entertaining…and, yes, we’ll take a point in the absence of anything better. Next, please….

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=31642&id=4570

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