Tag Archives: Graham Simpson

15th January 2005- Championship, Watford 3 Crewe Alexandra 1

How often have we heard that same old story? Team goes on cup run, team matches Premiership (not Premier, not a ship) side, team comes down to earth with a painful bump the following weekend. Okay, maybe not that often, but you get the point. Crewe at home, despite our visitors losing Dean Ashton to Norwich, had “potential banana skin” written all over it. Much as everybody’s attention is rightly focused on a certain game against a certain team, the need to build on the last home match (a 1-0 win over Millwall, in case you can’t remember in a post-Anfield blur) with another three points was paramount. The Carling Cup Final would be nice, but a few home league wins in a row will keep the relegation battle wolf well and truly clear of our door.

8th January 2005- FA Cup Third Round, Watford 1 Fulham 1

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

Neither side wanted a draw but both teams deserved something from what was an excellent Cup tie. For Watford the replay will be sandwiched between the two legs of the Carling Cup semi-final against Liverpool while Fulham’s priorities lie in Premiership survival.

Of course, Fulham left us with the suggestion, before Russian billionaires raised the stakes, that Al Fayed’s money would buy more than a superior type of mediocrity; nevertheless, it’s hard to remember to be smart when we’re asked what we’ve been doing since we were neck-and-neck with them at the top of the Second Division back in 2000. In short, not as planned.

1st January 2005- Championship, Watford 1 Millwall 0

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6th November 2004-Championship, Watford 2 Derby County 2

BSAD report:I don’t know how many words there are in Icelandic for goal, but there must be quite a few for determination.

BSAD report:Unfortunately, my battle to scribble notes in a straight line in the rapidly failing light meant that I was looking down at my pad when Derby scored the equaliser, so I can’t tell you how it happened, except that it was, I think, Ian Taylor, from a rebound.

BSAD report: The man next to me by Richard Scrimshaw

report by a Derby fan

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=36348&id=4627

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23rd October 2004- Championship, Watford 2 Ipswich Town 2

Persistence was everything here, when there seemed to be nothing much else to cling to. There’ll be talk of match-turning substitutions and heroic spirit, sure…but this wasn’t a comeback, not as such. Nothing changed. Rather, when it appeared that the cause was utterly hopeless, when we were two-nil down to a team that had gradually and increasingly out-classed us, when the ceaseless pelting rain seemed to sum up the afternoon, we just kept going. We kept our heads up, we kept our minds clear, and we kept going. Basic professionalism or pure faith, depending on whether you’re a romantic or not…but whatever, two-nil suddenly became two-two, with fifteen minutes still to play. We’d done nothing differently, really, but that was precisely the point.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=33336&id=4623

25th September 2004- Championship, Watford 0 Reading 1

If we were somewhat flattered on Tuesday, we were plainly insulted on this occasion.

The weather was strange. It didn’t know whether it wanted to rain or not. On fourteen minutes, Mr Webber didn’t know whether he wanted to score or not, and throughout the match we never seemed to grasp whether we were playing at home or not.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4618