Tag Archives: Ed Coan

13th March 2004- New Division One, Watford 0 Sheffield United 2

Hell, does anyone really want to pick over these bones? Will it tell us anything new, anything that we don’t know already? If you’re still holding out hope for Tuesday, then I applaud your optimism…and you might take some heart from a moderately rousing finale, even if its stirring passion was mainly manifested in Heidar Helguson narrowly escaping another red card for a stupid elbow and Paul Devlin being pointlessly petulant with anyone who came near him, friend or foe. And Paul Mayo had a competent, quietly impressive home debut too. Otherwise, though, there ain’t much that you’d want to look at, good or bad. It just was, and oppressively so. Frankly, Tuesday can’t come slowly enough.

17th January 2004- New Division One, Watford 1 Crystal Palace 5

The Hornets were looking for some cheer following their FA Cup exit at the hands of Chelsea in midweek but Palace were in no mood to oblige.

Where to start, really. This was an absolute horror, make no mistake. The repercussions could be catastrophic. That there are positives to be drawn from the performance, that we have played worse, significantly worse, this season perhaps makes it all the more horrific.

As I put it to my dad on the way back from the ground: a team of Keith Dublins could not have done any worse.

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/

30th September 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Burnley 1

Football. Marvellous, isn’t it? Transporting you from the ordinary day-to-day to some higher plane. Hard to imagine that Watford fans would be experiencing such feelings and such an absorbing ninety minutes given the season to date. Hard to imagine a standing ovation for a team that comes off the pitch with only a draw, firmly rooted next-to-bottom (or bottom if you only count real clubs), down to ten men, four players booked, and with their opponents spurning a penalty and having a shot come back off the post, defying Newtonian mechanics (or is it Euclidean geometry?). But that’s what they had, a standing ovation – and thoroughly deserved.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4568

30th April 2003- New Division One, Watford 0 Reading 3

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4556

You didn’t really come here for football, did you? For heaven’s sake, what possessed you? Have you not see the score? Did you not pay attention to what happened on Saturday? Or the league table…have you not seen the league table? Nobody cares any more. It just doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant, finished, filed away. Except that you still want to know. You are the sole punter who still turns up to see UK Subs, wondering bitterly why they don’t still make the top forty and the front cover of NME. And I’m here because you’re here. Which must make me the drummer in UK Subs, or something. And that’s not quite what I had in mind for my life, you know….

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-04-30

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/30-april-2003/

19th January 2003- New Division One, Watford 2 Norwich City 1

There was something almost Betjeman-esque about the first 45 minutes here yesterday, so effectively did 22 well-paid professionals evoke the spirit of the thousands of park games that kicked off around the country an hour or so earlier.

This was a wearisome game. A dreary, generally uneventful, rarely attractive football match between two largely uninspired sides. And played at a ludicrous time, just for effect. The equivalent of being dragged from your bed at five o’clock in the morning and forced to watch back-to-back episodes of “Heartbeat”, while being kept awake by periodic prodding with a blunt stick. Probably the most forgettable game since…erm, I can’t remember. But with a reward for anyone who managed to stick with it until the end.

The match itself couldn’t have made much of an impression on the TV viewers, though the three points have brought Watford back in touch with the teams chasing for a play-off place. Whilst a top half finish would have been beyond most Watford fans’ expectations at the start of the season, it is great to see that there is some hope of some end of season games. Keep up the good work Ray, Terry and the lads.

More games from 19th January at https://oldwatford.com/tag/jan19

6th April 2002- New Division One, Watford 0 Sheffield United 3

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4503

Sheffield United heaped misery on Watford boss Gianluca Vialli with a convincing victory at Vicarage Road.

If the 21st of April, and the Gillingham match that will finally put us out of our apparently infinite misery, is designated “Fan Appreciation Day”, then what on earth was this? “Fan Dissuasion Day”? “Fan Repulsion Day”? Whatever, it cleared the ground more efficiently than a fire alarm.

The applause for Robert Page, returning to his spiritual home, was a worthy tribute to a great club servant. It was noticeable that he did not gloat at the ease with which United scored all three of their goals, but I bet he was pissing himself as he walked down the tunnel and into the away dressing room. I also bet he was wondering quite why he was forced out of the club.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2002-04-06

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/06-april-2002/

29th March 2002- New Division One, Watford 0 Bradford City 0

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4501

Bradford almost snatched all three points as both Tom Kearney and Eoin Jess rattled the woodwork in the second half at Vicarage Road.

Having wasted a large chunk of a beautiful Good Friday on this thoroughly grey, tedious match, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m unwilling to do the same with an equally glorious Saturday. It was very dull indeed – a game of no real importance, with no serious attempt made to keep up the illusion – and we’ve all got better things to do with our time. I can hear the Hoover calling me as I type….

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2002-03-29

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/29-march-2002/

2nd March 2002- New Division One, Watford 0 Crewe Alexandra 1

Crewe striker Dean Ashton scored the only goal of the game to ease his side’s relegation fears. It was Ashton’s eighth goal of the campaign but Watford boss Gianluca Vialli will wonder how his side lost.

Somehow, another opportunity has slipped from our grasp. While this performance fell far short of Tuesday’s, neither capturing its furious intensity nor matching the elegance of some of the football, it still should’ve been enough to produce a single goal victory.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2002-03-02

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/02-march-2002/

10th February 2002- New Division One, Watford 2 Grimsby Town 0

With our confidence dragging around our ankles and patience running out, anything might’ve happened here. Anything didn’t happen here, which is a sign of…well, “progress” would be too strong a word. “Survival” would be a better one, perhaps.