Tag Archives: Feb14

14th February 2023- Championship, Burnley 1 Watford 1

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Attendance: 18393

BBC Sport: Burnley’s hopes of a record-breaking 11th straight Championship win were dashed as they were held to a draw by Watford at Turf Moor.

Sky Sports: A first-half finish from Joao Pedro gave the Hornets the lead but Vincent Kompany’s men escaped with a point after Obafemi popped up deep into stoppage time.

Fran’s Watford Blog: In the end, a draw was a fair result, although it was very disappointing to concede right at the end having defended resolutely.  The second half had been a real rearguard effort, but the chances for Burnley were again restricted.  Hoedt and Porteous are looking really solid in the centre of defence, you would think that they had been playing together for years.  What was especially pleasing was that it was a real team effort.  The past couple of performances have been building to this and it was great to see the Hornets matching the team that are running away with the division.  I was interested to hear the views of the Happy Valleys, who generally only see the games we play in the North.  They were all very impressed and said that they hadn’t seen anything like that performance so far this season.  It was certainly in stark contrast to their last match in Middlesbrough.  The signs were very encouraging indeed and, with performances like that, we now need fear nobody in this division.

14th February 2015- Championship, Bolton Wanderers 3 Watford 4

1-0
2-2
3-2
4-3
http://watford.fcdb.info/index.php?page=matches

A late winner from substitute Troy Deeney gave Watford all three points from a seven-goal thriller at Bolton.

Deeney, a 57th-minute substitute for Gabriele Angella, beat Andy Lonergan with a low shot from 16 yards to give his side victory in a breathtaking festival of attacking football.

When the final whistle went, a couple of the Watford players dropped to the ground as did a number of the Bolton players.  They all looked dead on their feet and certainly those of us in the stands were completely drained.  What a terrific game of football.  There were ecstatic grins in the away end and hugs between friends and, most likely, complete strangers.  The players came over and were greeted as the heroes that they were.  Ighalo, Layun, Forestieri and Deeney thanked us by nipping over the advertising hoardings to give their shirts to the crowd.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2015-02-14
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/14-february-2015/

14th February 2012- Championship, Watford 3 Leicester City 2

Watford substitute Craig Forsyth struck 10 minutes from time to to extend the Hornets’ unbeaten run to four games.

Home ties with Leicester are becoming unmissable (remember this one?  Or this one?), and this stood comparison with any of them.  Indeed, if the quality of the football wasn’t always the highest, the level of excitement and drama was unparalleled.  It was Prison Break as a football match, rejecting credibility in favour of a script that rolled ludicrously from one side to the other affording any number of dramatic cameos and contributions and leaving all those in attendance, surely, buzzing on adrenaline and reliving the highlights in their heads long after the match had finished.  This, as I wrote after the corresponding fixture last year, was what you bloody go to football for.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2012-02-14
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/14-february-2012/

14th February 2009- FA Cup Fifth Round, Watford 1 Chelsea 3

Chelsea were given a huge fright in their first match since the departure of Luiz Felipe Scolari but a Nicolas Anelka hat-trick helped them bounce back to beat Watford 3-1 and advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Tamas Priskin gave the Hornets the lead after he sprung the offside trap to dink the ball over Petr Cech.

 Watford had been pummelled for long periods, surrendered possession but defending wonderfully ruggedly to maintain parity, before Lloyd Doyley released Tamas Priskin. 

A tremendous effort all round.  Losing to Chelsea is no disgrace for a side at the bottom of the second division, and if we rode our luck more than once we also came close to levelling the game at 2-1 down.  Lots of good individual performances… the wonderful Jenkins, rejuvenated Demerit, unrecognisable Priskin, bullish (!) McAnuff.  But the team worked, for the most part.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%9309_FA_Cup#Fifth_Round_Proper

14th February 2006- Championship, Leeds United 2 Watford 1

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

BBC: Robbie Blake’s double-strike sank nine-man Watford as Leeds leapfrogged the Hornets into third place.

Daily Telegraph, 15 Feb 2006
Independent, 15 Feb 2006
Evening Standard, 15 Feb 2006

BSAD: Word had already reached us in the chatter beneath the stand that Gavin Mahon had succumbed to the dead leg inflicted by Saturday’s referee. With Matthew Spring already missing (due to a clause in his transfer that is as graceless as much of Leeds’ conduct this evening) and with Dom Blizzard still absent we fielded a central midfield of eighteen year-old Al Bangura and full-back James Chambers. Chris Eagles was back in the side in place of Anthony McNamee; otherwise it was the same line-up that faced Coventry.

BSAD: Jordan Stewart’s poor header back to Foster allowed Hulse to intercept, push the ball past the on-rushing Foster and land in a heap on the floor. From my appalling view, five rows back at the other end, I couldn’t tell you if Foster made much contact with Hulse, but what I’m pretty sure of is that Hulse was never going to reach the ball for a second touch. Referee Mike Jones must have seen otherwise though and bowed to home pressure by sending Foster for an early bath.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2006-02-14
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/14-february-2006/

14th February 2004- New Division One, Watford 2 Preston North End 0

BBC SportHameur Bouazza scored on his full debut to set up Watford’s victory against Preston at Vicarage Road.

BSAD imageSo, Preston then. And as I struggle to remember the game’s various events and talking points, one thing is clear above all. This was a good thing.  Not just the performance (although it was surely one of the best of the season, if not the best) but for the number of factors that gave the more optimistic supporter something to smile about.

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Taken from programme on 6th August 2005- Championship, Watford 1 Preston North End 2

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