Tag Archives: Dec29

29th December 2025- Championship, Norwich City 0 Watford 1

Watford Observer: Preview: Sargent returns for Norwich as Watford aim for three straight wins

Match Wrap: Norwich City 0-1 Watford – Watford FC Download

Watford Observer: MATCHDAY RECAP: Norwich City 0-1 Watford

Match Report: Dramatic Semedo winner lifts Watford into top six at Norwich

Gracia on Norwich win: ‘The substitutes made the difference’

Norwich verdict: Irankunda burst shows why 2025/26 may just be different

Norwich boss Clement claims Watford staff told him victory was lucky

Gracia pleased Watford are ‘more solid’ but is not thinking about league position

BBC: Vivaldo Semedo’s late winner against Norwich moved Watford into the Championship play-off places.

Sky: A disappointing game of few clear-cut chances appeared to be heading for a goalless draw until Semedo’s deflected shot found the back of the net after a fine run down the left from fellow substitute Nestory Irankunda.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The final whistle was greeted with shouts of “Yellows, yellows” and the post-match celebrations were joyous. The players all came over to applaud us, and Semedo was pushed to the front as the crowd sang his name. The crowd then lauded Irankunda who had made the goal, and he came over to give his shirt away with the biggest smile on his face. Finally, Javi came to the front and was given the ovation that he deserved.

From the Rookery End: Watford have finally packed their bags and remembered how to win on the road — and Jon, Jordi and The Brigadier Colin are here to enjoy every minute of it. Back-to-back away victories at Leicester (2-1) and Norwich (1-0) give the Hornets something they’ve been missing for a while: momentum. The lads dig into a mature, disciplined performance at the King Power, ask whether this side is starting to look like a team rather than a collection of individuals, and assess the calm, gritty win at Carrow Road that showed real backbone.

29th December 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Cardiff City 2

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Report: Watford 1-2 Cardiff City – Watford FC Download

BBC: Cardiff City won their first Championship game in 10 attempts as they beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road.

Sky: Robinson opened the scoring in the first minute and grabbed another before half-time, shortly after Giorgi Chakvetadze had equalised, to dent the hosts’ play-off hopes.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Cardiff City 2

Five talking points: Unbeaten home run ends and dealing with delaying tactics

Watford 1 Cardiff 2 minute-by-minute match report

‘We have to admit that, to a man, we weren’t good enough’ – Cleverley

Cleverley ready to help Jebbison both technically and mentally

Nine months of impregnability ended in one lousy 90 minutes

They tried it at Luton. They tried it yesterday. Probably won’t be tried again!

Early goal was bad, but conceding so soon after equalising was criminal

Fran’s Watford Blog: The post-match analysis was lively with Adam having an extended (and justifiable) rant. It had been a very frustrating game. Watford had completely dominated possession, but had seemed very reluctant to go for goal in contrast with the opposition whose goals came from positive runs. Cardiff were unpleasant opposition, the very early goal meaning that the time wasting was prolonged and the referee decided not to deal with it. There was also a lot of shirt pulling that went unpunished while every tackle by the Hornets seemed to provoke agonised rolling around. On more than one occasion, the Cardiff physios were called on for a player who was back on their feet with no apparent harm done before they reached them.

From the Rookery End: With Watford’s unbeaten home record finally gone, Colin, Jordi and Mike got together to discuss the two Feative home games against Portsmouth and Cardiff. Do fans take themselves too seriously? Did Baah’s “take the L” dance contribute to Watford taking one of their own against Cardiff? Was the ref to blame – or was it just one of those days for Tom Cleverly’s Hornets?

29th December 2023- Championship, Watford 1 Stoke City 1

WFC.Net Jon Marks goal commentary: 1

Sky: Watford held out for a 1-1 draw at home to Stoke despite losing Vakoun Bayo early in the second half to a straight red card for lashing out at Luke McNally.

BBC: Jake Livermore gave the Hornets the lead from close range with his first goal for the club, but Ryan Mmaee turned his marker before firing home the equaliser.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Stoke City 1

Ten-man Watford secure deserved point against Stoke

‘The spirit was unbelievable in the stadium. I got some goosebumps’

Performance from Morris was anything but minor

Spirit shown against Stoke put right most of the wrongs of the Boxing Day blip

OPINION-Nobody wants to batter officials, but yesterday was simply too bad

BHappy: Comes to something when a 1-1 draw against Stoke – no disrespect intended, but the sort of result that even an ardent follower of the Championship would skip over without a second thought – was so full of the stuff, surely, that we all go for? Adrenaline, drama, emotion, heroes, villains?

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was a difficult game. It was great to see Livermore score his first goal. He has been so valuable for us since his return to match fitness. It was also great to see Chakvetadze put in a storming performance that deserved a goal and would have produced one but for the fingertips of Jack Bonham. Having been disappointed with Asprilla on Boxing Day, I thought that he was a lot more positive going forward. The goal that was conceded was a little unlucky as the Porteous deflection wrongfooted Dele-Bashiru and gave Mmaee space to take the shot. But, ultimately, the game changed when Bayo was sent off. His reaction was foolish, but the strange decisions of the referee had wound a lot of the players up at this point. I was just glad that they calmed down after that and mounted a tremendous rearguard effort that kept Stoke at bay while the Hornets continued to look for a winner. They were bolstered by the Vicarage Road crowd who were incredibly noisy, roaring the boys on. It was great to be a part of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67798477

29th December 2018- Premier League, Watford 1 Newcastle United 1

Jon Marks BBC 3CR commentary Goals: 1

Relive our coverage of Watford’s final game of 2018 against Newcastle United

Watford vs Newcastle United: Abdoulaye Doucoure salvages a point

Watford vs Newcastle United: Javi Gracia defends decision to make six changes

Our Watford player ratings against Newcastle United

A selection of images from Watford’s draw with Newcastle United

The Watford manager made six changes to his starting XI as his side played a third Premier League game in eight days. When asked if that was too many he said: “If you see the result you can say that, but I don’t agree.

Salomon Rondon gave the visitors a surprise lead in the first half (29) shortly after Gerard Deulofeu squandered a great opportunity to put the hosts in front. But Watford grabbed a deserved equaliser through substitute Doucoure (82), who converted his powerful header from close range.

The visitors will feel they should have finished Watford off in the second half as Rondon headed over from Ritchie’s cross and the latter player shot straight at Foster. But they lacked a cutting edge and while they played with plenty of heart it was not enough to hold on as Watford, who had failed to offer much of note themselves, eventually exposed poor defending eight minutes from the end.

Doucouré gave the hosts more security and thrust in midfield when introduced by Gracia and headed an equaliser from 10 yards after a rare accurate delivery by Deulofeu.

Newcastle hit us with their stock goal and it’s a Neal Ardley to Heidar Helguson tribute act. Matt Ritchie swings a beast of a cross in from the left to our far post and Rondón rises to dump a header past the helpless Ben Foster. Newcastle aren’t a great side, Ray Lewington’s Watford side weren’t great either however lovable but that goal more than kept us up and it’ll keep them up too.

That is the second time that we have played Newcastle this season and the second time that we have come away frustrated. The visitors were certainly more impressive than they had been at St James’ Park, but we should have challenged them more. They had come to put 10 men behind the ball and Watford just couldn’t find a way to break them down. While there had been a lot of changes, the starting XI should have been good enough to create more than they did in the first half. The performance was considerably better when Deeney and Doucouré came on. They battled more when the opposition had the ball and we generally looked more dangerous. We also missed Holebas’s attacking prowess.

29th December 2013- Championship, Watford 0 Queens Park Rangers 0

QPR lost further ground on Championship leaders Leicester after being held to a goalless draw at Watford.

Watford were similarly shot shy, with their best moment coming eight minutes after the interval when Troy Deeney and Diego Fabbrini combined neatly but the latter’s tame shot was dropped on by Robert Green in the Rangers goal. Three minutes earlier the visitors had also gone as close as they would all afternoon, with Matt Phillips drawing a fine save from Manuel Almunia.

Watford are unbeaten in three matches under recently-appointed head coach Giuseppe Sannino and have only conceded one goal since the Italian’s arrival.

Nil-nil draws come in a variety of flavours. There are the ones where a draw suits at least one of the two sides down to the ground, often the away side, such that if it hasn’t quite been the aim at the outset it’s deemed a more than acceptable eventuality. There are those where a lack of quality is the dominant characteristic, a nil-nil by default. There are those much more open games which are nil-nil in name only, by virtue of neither side quite getting around to scoring. And there are, as my co-editor would wish me to recognise in his continuing absence, occasional total aberrations where even a goalless scoreline flatters an encounter so devoid of anything as to sap the collective will to live of those present – Scarborough (A, 1995) the example most frequently cited in textbooks.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2013-12-29

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/29-december-2013/

29th December 2007- Championship, Watford 2 Queens Park Rangers 4

QPR’s remarkable victory leaves Watford without a home win since 20 October.

QPR now sit 19th in the Championship, a long way from Watford who, after a seventh home league game without a win, are on the slide. The manager, Aidy Boothroyd, is trying to quell talk of a crisis but the captain, Jay DeMerit, admits the club’s hopes of going straight back into the Premier League are fragile. “We are a little bit nervous at home – it feels as though there is more pressure,” he said. “A team that is near the top of the table should be winning at home. Our jobs aren’t safe; we have to play well in order to keep them.”

What a jolly splendid sunset over the Rous Stand.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2007-12-29

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/29-december-2007/