Tag Archives: Feb8

8th February 2025- Championship, Sunderland 2 Watford 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cn8yzdlnwnwt#Line-ups

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1 2

Report: Sunderland 2-2 Watford – Watford FC Download

BBC: Dennis Cirkin scored an 89th-minute equaliser as Sunderland preserved their unbeaten home record with a draw against Watford.

Sky: The Black Cats took an early lead thanks to Luke O’Nien but looked set to suffer their first home defeat of the season after Tom Dele-Bashiru’s penalty and a stunning effort from Imran Louza in the first minute of the second half.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Sunderland 2 Watford 2

Sunderland 2 Watford 2 minute-by-minute report

Cleverley not letting late equaliser cloud his pleasure at performance

Successful small steps appear to be the way to take giant strides

Louza and Dele-Bashiru ‘controlled the game for large parts’

Taking a short-term view is the key to longer-term improvement

To substitute or not to substitute – that was the question we asked Cleverley

Fran’s Watford Blog: This was a very impressive performance from the Hornets. I don’t think anyone in the away end expected anything other than a defeat, so to come so close to ending Sunderland’s unbeaten run of home games was admirable. It was a wonderful team performance with some moments of real quality. First Doumbia winning the penalty. The header just before had caused Patterson problems, but the youngster continued to fight for the ball to win the spot kick. Then Dele-Bashiru stepped up and was totally unfazed by the opposition goalkeeper and fans who were trying to unnerve him. It was a confident strike which sent us into the break with some hope. Then Louza’s goal, which was a thing of beauty. There is something incredibly special about being behind a goal when one like that is scored. Every fan who had got up at the crack of dawn to travel to the game thoroughly deserved to see that. The fact that Louza tried another audacious shot immediately after the restart following the equaliser made me very happy indeed.

From the Rookery End: DCW and Mike convened the morning after Watford’s 2-2 draw away at Sunderland to assess the performance and reflect on some much needed reasons to be cheerful – a very steady debut for Egil Selvik, an encouraging first start for Doumbia, a promising central defensive partnership of Pollock and Abankwah, and an absolute worldie from Imran Louza. If only we could defend set pieces…

8th February 2022- Premier League, West Ham United 1 Watford 0

This game took place in the wake of the release of a video showing West Ham’s Kurt Zouma kicking a cat. There were calls for him to be dropped for the game which were ignored by Hammers boss David Moyes. Zouma was eventually sentenced to 180 community service and banned from keeping cats for 5 years. His cats were rehomed by the RSPCA.

Attendance: 59,581

BBC Sport: West Ham climbed back into the Premier League’s top four with a narrow victory over Roy Hodgson’s Watford, as Kurt Zouma controversially started for the home side.

Sky Sports: Bowen netted the winner for the Hammers on 68 minutes when his speculative effort from range deflected past a helpless Ben Foster. It was tough on Watford, who looked set for a second clean sheet in a row under Roy Hodgson in a much improved defensive showing.

The Guardian: There was, though, a much-needed reminder of football’s heart with West Ham paying tribute to seven-year-old Isla Caton who tragically passed away recently following a five-year battle with neuroblastoma. A moving message from her mother, Nikki, lit up the big screens pre-match and a pair of warmly observed minutes’ applause followed.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The game kicked off and the first thing to note was the boos (mostly from the away end) every time that Zouma got the ball. On 7 minutes the mood changed as Isla’s picture appeared on the big screen and everyone in the ground stood and applauded.

8th February 2020- Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Watford 1

Referee: Kevin Friend
Attendance: 30,443

1-0

Watford face Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League

Watford lose lead in Brighton & Hove Albion draw

Nigel Pearson reflects on Watford’s draw at Brighton & Hove Albion

Watford players rated following draw with Brighton and Hove Albion

Ben Foster said Watford did not want to sit back in Brighton and Hove Albion draw

Watford boss Nigel Pearson admitted his side had “missed an opportunity” to get a vital victory and move out of the relegation zone as Adrian Mariappa’s own goal gifted Brighton a draw.

Neither side went into the game in good form, but Watford struck first with a fine solo goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure (19), putting some demons to rest after also scoring an own goal in the 3-0 loss to Brighton on the opening weekend.

Minute by minute

“It’s unfortunate”, said Pearson. “We’ve worked exceptionally hard today and goals like that are very difficult to deal with. But I try to stress the importance of not becoming overly positive when things are going well or too pessimistic if things go negatively. You have a better chance of surviving if you keep your nerve.”

The game settles into a pattern from which it’ll never escape, of Brighton having great acres of possession and not really knowing how to harvest it, of Watford suffocating it all by sitting deep and gradually pushing each attack backwards, guiding a toddler out of a toy shop. It has the dramatic intensity of someone prodding a damp sponge with an old toothbrush.

It had been an awful game of football and, yet again, we had been the architects of our own downfall. There was one moment of quality in the game, which was the gorgeous goal from Doucouré. Although the late effort from Mooy and the save from Foster deserve a special mention. Other than that, it was really turgid with Watford sitting deep against an ineffective Brighton attack. It really hurt that we had lost two points due to a pointless own goal, especially as I am very fond of Mariappa, but I don’t know what he was thinking when he blasted that ball into the net. At the end of the day, we remain in the bottom three and, while we are not yet adrift, it is hard to see where the next points are coming from

8th February 2013- Championship, Watford 2 Crystal Palace 2

Almen Abdi put Watford into an early lead with a well-hit effort from just outside the area before Nathaniel Chalobah headed in the Hornets’ second.

Second-half goals from Peter Ramage and Kevin Phillips earned Crystal Palace a 2-2 draw at Watford in the Championship.

Ian Holloway called for the Football League to “close the loophole” that has allowed Gianfranco Zola to loan eight players from Udinese, who are also owned by the Pozzo Family, after watching his side battle back to claim a point in a pulsating game.

These are the games, my friends. Bursting with possibility…for disaster, for triumph, for all of the stuff in between. For finding out what you’re really made of. A clash between two cresting waves, unstoppable and inevitable; no time for caution or reserve, just a head-on collision at full pelt. For a club like ours, you only really get them when promotion is on the horizon: cup or league encounters with higher forces lack the same balance, relegation six-pointers lack the surging ambition. Not a game that was ever going to end goalless and sterile, this.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2013-02-08

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/08-february-2013/

8th February 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Rotherham United 2

Goals from central defenders Martin McIntosh and Chris Swailes completed Rotherham’s second-half comeback to abruptly end Watford’s run of three consecutive wins.

There have been a few more daydreams than usual this week. Since that magnificent victory over West Brom and that vital win at Coventry, it’s been easy to let the imagination wander a little. You can piece together a run of results to leave us in the playoff places, then toy with the possibilities from there onwards. You can plan a famous cup success at the Stadium of Light, then a kind draw in the quarter final…and then, well, who knows? And, implicitly, you can use all of the above to conjure up emotive, powerful images from yesteryear, both recent and beyond.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-02-08

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-2/08-february-2003/

8th February 1998-Division Two, Watford 0 Gillingham 2

Less than 18 months after the article about the Rookery was published (see page 5) it became the official home end because far more than 13,500+ Watford supporters wished to attend. This rise was, of course, because of our promotion to the Premier League.

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