Tag Archives: Coventry City

25th October 2025- Championship, Coventry City 3 Watford 1

Watford Observer: Coventry preview: Watford need a Gracia special to beat table-toppers

Gracia out to end wait of over eight months for Watford away win

Match Wrap: Coventry City 3-1 Watford – Watford FCDownload

Watford Observer: MATCHDAY RECAP: Coventry City 3-1 Watford

Match Report: Watford beaten 3-1 in crazy Coventry clash

Gracia proud of Watford display at Coventry but rues ‘soft mistakes’

Gracia on lapses of concentration and squad rotation in Coventry defeat

Lampard: ‘Watford are a strong team, I expect them to climb the table’

Quality and calamity: How should we feel about Watford’s defeat at Coventry?

Gracia explains tweaks that kept Watford competitive in second half at Coventry

Vata: ‘It was a case of having too much time to think – I’ll learn from it’

BBC: Coventry City cemented top spot in the Championship and further enhanced their status as English football’s most potent attacking force with a 3-1 home victory over Watford.

Sky: It could have been a very different start to the afternoon but for Sky Blues stopper Carl Rushworth, who stood tall to deny Rocco Vata as the Watford winger was put through one-on-one a minute before Thomas-Asante’s opener.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Also, despite the score, we had seen a decent performance. The Hornets had been attacking with energy and had created enough chances to win the game, if it wasn’t for wasteful finishing and a good performance from Rushworth in the Coventry goal. Coventry may have stepped off the gas in the second half, they didn’t have a shot on target after the break, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that the Hornets never stopped attacking. Sadly, we were let down by some poor defending. But the difference between the teams was that Coventry were clinical in their finishing and we were not.

From the Rookery End: Watford’s midday clash with Coventry had it all — flashes of brilliance that frustratingly led to missed chances, diabolical defensive lapses, and big tactical questions for Javi Gracia. In this week’s From the Rookery End, Jon, Jordi, and Mike break down the highs and lows, from Doumbia and Vata’s attacking promise to the influence of Louza in midfield and the players chosen to support him. Can the Hornets find consistency and turn potential into performance? Tune in for honest analysis, fan insight, and cautious optimism about what’s next for Watford.

25th January 2025- Championship, Coventry City 2 Watford 1

In the days leading up to the game there were media reports that former Villarreal coach Jose Rojo Martin had been approached to replace Tom Cleverley as Head Coach. Watford fans took to social media in their thousands to show their support for Tom which resulted in a statement being released from Gino Pozzo giving his continued backing to our Head Coach.

https://x.com/WatfordFC/status/1883089931188498932

Watford Observer: Pozzo: ‘We are committed to support’ Cleverley

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Report: Coventry City 2-1 Watford – Watford FCDownload

BBC: Two goals from Victor Torp were enough for Coventry to see off Watford and deny a spirited comeback for the Hornets.

Sky: Liam Kitching’s own goal gave the visitors hope but they were unable to force an equaliser.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Coventry 2 Watford 1

Coventry 2 Watford 1 minute-by-minute report

The words of support are fine, but actions will speak far louder

Fran’s Watford Blog: Tom and the players came over to applaud the travelling fans. Usually, they come over in their own time and applaud us but on this occasion the players all lined up behind Tom and applauded us for a considerable time. It was an impressive show of solidarity behind their head coach and was really rather moving.

From the Rookery End: After a tumultuous week (even by Watford standards!) Mike and Jon got their heads together to work thorough the events of the last few days in the world of Watford.

14th September 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Coventry City 1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/clywd1zqzllt#Line-ups

WFC.net goal commentary: 1

Report: Watford 1-1 Coventry City – Watford FC.htmlDownload

BBC: Tom Dele-Bashiru’s simple close-range finish earned Watford a point and denied wasteful Coventry City a second Championship victory of the season.

Sky: It was an awful start for the home side, who for the third game in a row fell behind after less than four minutes of the contest. On this occasion, Ellis Simms was allowed free space from a Jack Rudoni corner, to direct his header off a post and into the net.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Coventry 1

Watford 1-1 Coventry: Five talking points from Hornets draw

BHappy: Silence is weird.  Not… “peace and quiet”, everybody needs a bit of that from time to time to various degrees.  But the absence of noise where you’re used to having noise, is weird.  Disconcerting.  Wrong.

Frans Watford Blog: When we arrived at the Vic, there was no music being played on the PA due to a technical issue. My neighbour in the Rookery very kindly played Z-cars on his phone so that we got the full experience.

From the Rookery End: Colin, Jason and DCW gather outside Mad Squrrel to breakdown Watford performance – what and who caused a Watford turn around, which only fell a little short.

9th March 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Coventry City 2 after which Valerien Ismael was dismissed and replaced by Tom Cleverley who was named as Interim Head Coach

https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-coventry-city/teams/485145

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1

Sky: Haji Wright scored twice as Coventry came from behind to beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road.

BBC: Ryan Porteous put the home side in front after a bright start from the out-of-form hosts. USA forward Wright scored a penalty just before half-time to level after Josh Eccles was fouled, before adding another 18 minutes from time.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Coventry City 2

The drop and the chop – could one or both happen to Ismael?

Hornets’ home misery continues with Coventry defeat

Around five and a half hours after the game finished the club confirmed that Valerin Ismael had been dismissed as Head Coach and would be replaced by Tom Cleverley on an interim basis.

BBC: Watford have sacked boss Valerien Ismael following a run of only one win in 10 league games, with Tom Cleverley named as interim head coach.

Sky: Ismael was Watford’s 20th different manager since the Pozzo family took control of the club in 2020.

Watford Observer: Ismael sacked – Cleverley takes interim charge

Ismael sacked: he got more time than many but couldn’t survive this run

Sacked in March but Ismael’s January decisions were his downfall

BHappy: And so midway through the writing of this report the news breaks that has been coming, however reluctantly.  Ten months is probably not far from average for a managerial tenure these days and any number of statistics will support the fact that most clubs in this position would have taken the same steps by now, not that this will prevent any tired hacks from wheeling out tired gags.

Fran’s Watford Blog: I went to a gig in the evening and, while travelling home, picked up the news that Valerien had gone.  Given the terrible run of results that we have had lately, it was hardly a surprise.  I just hope that Tom Cleverley can bring some of the magic that he has had with the youngsters to the first team.  I certainly wish him well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68454825

2nd September 2023- Championship, Coventry City 3 Watford 3

https://www.watfordfc.com/match-report/match-report-coventry-city-3-3-watford

BBC: Mileta Rajovic’s double on his first Watford start was not enough to clinch victory as Coventry fought back three times to share the points in a thriller at the CBS Arena.

Sky: Mileta Rajovic’s opener was brilliantly cancelled out by Milan van Ewijk to leave the score 1-1 at half-time. Matheus Martins and a second from Rajovic had Watford ahead twice in the second half, but Wesley Hoedt’s own goal and Matt Godden’s late strike salvaged a point for the Sky Blues.

Watford Observer: Live Feed

For three games Watford struggled to score goals. Today that wasn’t the problem – it was giving them away down the other end that cost them all the points in a crazy 3-3 draw at Coventry.

BHappy: City’s second goal owed less to struggling with the demands of the new system than it did to a complacent and expensive lack of concentration.  At 2-1 for ten minutes or so early in the second half, we were bossing the game.  City looked beaten following Martins’ merciless strike, Watford were knocking it around and making the home side chase the ball.  Porteous’ pass across the back line to Hoedt didn’t place the Dutchman under particular pressure, but a moment’s hesitation as an opponent half-heartedly considered closing down saw him panic, turn away from the centre of the pitch and without looking play a firm back pass towards the goal.  No blame attached to Bachmann here – he has been told to be a passing option and so had to be a long way out of his goal. There’s no excuse for a back pass without a look, much less one that’s on target and with comic precision finds the narrow path between the goalkeeper’s tortured lunge and the inside post.   The away end slumped in stunned disbelief, the home stands were rejuvenated and the basketball resumed.

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was then Coventry’s turn to have a defensive shambles as Thomas played a short back pass, Bayo nipped in to pick it up and rolled it back to Rajović who prodded it past Wilson to give the Hornets the lead for the third time in the game. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66624456

10th April 2023- Championship, Coventry City 2 Watford 2

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1  2

Attendance: 21,112

BBC Sport: Watford’s failure to leave Coventry with maximum points after looking comfortable at 2-0 up will hurt their chances of reaching the play-offs, as a run of just two wins from 14 games now leaves them six points adrift of the top six with five games to play.

Sky Sports: the home side were frustrated in their attempts to find a winner and felt they should have had a penalty when Brooke Norton-Cuffy appeared to be tripped in the penalty area with nine minutes left.

Fran’s Watford Blog: At the final whistle there was a smattering of half-hearted boos from the away end.  The mood then deteriorated as some very angry people started telling the players what they thought of them.  One of the most irate was someone that I have met on trains to games many times over the years who has always struck me as very mild-mannered.  I have to say that I was really surprised and rather saddened at that level of anger after what had been a much more encouraging performance.  Despite that, the players came over to applaud the travelling fans and most of the fans applauded back.  I couldn’t help thinking that if the halves of the game had been reversed, we would have all been going home rather pleased with the performance.  The first half had been the best that I have seen in some weeks.  There was so much more coherence in the play and evidence of a team playing together.  Sadly, as soon as Coventry scored, the confidence disappeared, and I feared that we would end up badly beaten.  In the end, it was a decent game for neutrals and a well won point on the road.  I was very impressed with Andrews.  Let’s hope that we now see more of the youngsters given a run out and a positive end to the season.