Tag Archives: Alec Chamberlain

15th October 2005- Championship, Watford 1 Leicester City 2

Leicester claimed their first away victory of the season at Watford.

Don’t let me paint this as a crisis. It isn’t, and it doesn’t need to be. But it shouldn’t be taken lightly either, just because the start to the campaign was so exuberant and so refreshing. For the second time, we dropped points at home in a tight game, leaving a striker on the bench with a substitution to spare.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=31800&id=4677

1st October 2005- Championship, Watford 0 Leeds United 0

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If the Premiership is considered boring and lacking in quality these days, God forbid either of these sides should rise from the Championship to join it.

“If you like dubstep but didn’t reach DMZ’s fourth incredible Brixton bash, where were ya?” asks Martin Clark, by way of introduction to his vital monthly round-up of London’s grime and dubstep scenes for the excellent Pitchfork site. And I don’t have an answer to that, frankly.

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20th September 2005- League Cup Second Round, Watford 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

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One look at the teamsheet told you everything you needed to know about the depth of our squad and with a pretty much full strength Wolves side taking the field, the test had come. With injuries and suspensions seemingly ready to take a first meaty bite out of our squad, Boothroyd wisely chose to rest Foster, Devlin, Young and Blizzard, while Fletcher was cup-tied meaning first starts for Toumani Diagouraga and Francino Francis. There was also a return for the veteran shot-stopper and all round good egg Alec Chamberlain and further chances for Al Bangura and Hameur Bouazza to shine, while James Chambers returned at right back with Lloyd Doyley slotting in at centre half to replace the banned Malky Mackay.

It was actually the oldest player on the pitch who kept us in it at one point. Alec Chamberlain, looking for all the world like a sprightly forty year-old instead of an ageing forty-one year-old, leapt to the aid of our defence to tip a powerful shot over the bar.

Having drawn the new squad in parallel with some automotive stuff I found myself being kept awake until 2.30 this morning by a frustrating urge to compare recent games with different types of armchairs. This could be something to do with being a bit on-off at work at the moment; it could be the non-conformist aspect of my personality seeking some form of retribution for my conformist views; it could be a way of including a particularly visual moment I had at a moment of Wolves’ misfortune or it could be that people might see where I am coming from and agree that describing a game of football to someone who wasn’t there is only partially adequate.

17th September 2005- Championship, Watford 2 Sheffield United 3

Leaders Sheffield United came from two goals down to beat 10-man Watford courtesy of a late own-goal off the knee of defender Clarke Carlisle.

Damn right, then, that this left a very bitter taste in the mouth. There’s never anything pleasant about losing a two goal lead; hell, there’s rarely anything too lovely about losing, full stop. But you can live with it, generally. This would’ve been a very different report if we’d just skipped the sixty-seventh minute and got on with it, succumbing to a rather flattering comeback that cancelled out our own rather flattering lead. Neil Warnock’s sides have a certain reputation for unreconstructed physical force, for a distinctive, shall we say, WayneAllisonness; that’s all part of the game that we love. You’d take that on the chin, without complaint. Given the chance.

The thing about lessons is you don’t dwell on them. You take what you need and move on. On that basis, this report should be about four sentences long, of which this is already the third, which just leaves the following: if this game isn’t a turning point in our season, then Betty “Adrian” Boothroyd truly will have made a difference to this club, been proven a “different” kind of manager, and be most worthy of a more expensive, better-fitting suit on matchdays in future.

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27th August 2005- Championship, Watford 0 Reading 0

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In recent years, Reading have snatched the best of the points in these fixtures, but this season, under Adrian Boothroyd – not so long ago referred to as ‘who?’ – Watford have come up with a much better challenge.

After a successful start to the season against some mid-table teams, Reading were the first promotion-challenging side that Watford were to encounter, our toughest test so far, and a good sign of where the team would end up at the close of the season. It would also show that certain players, who had been questioned for their ability and right to a place in the starting line up, were more than able to play extremely well in this league, and prove their doubters wrong. This was an important match for everyone, it would tell us a lot about the new Watford FC.

13th September 2005-Championship, Watford 2 Norwich City 1

23rd August 2005-League Cup First Round, Watford 3 Notts County 1

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4667

Ashley Young headed the Hornets ahead and Hameur Bouazza’s neatly slotted penalty made it 2-0 after Young was crudely brought down by Julien Baudet.

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BSAD report: The ‘Orns got off to what is becoming a customary bright start once the initial meet and greet stuff had finished and the ball was allowed to meet the turf. In an enjoyable difference from the usual pattern of these sort of games, we got an early lead and never looked back.

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