Tag Archives: Lee Hodson

18th September 2012- Championship, Watford 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 1

Video from Brighton’s Facebook page of the penalty and goal

Craig Mackail-Smith scored his sixth goal in four games as Brighton beat Watford to maintain their impressive start to the league season.

Zola’s Hornets, still a work in progress after their summer overhaul, did have their chances with Fernando Forestieri coming closest when his shot clipped the crossbar, while they could have had a couple of penalties of their own.

It’s only a matter of time before kickoff is preceded by a “PREVIOUSLY ON…” round-up for those who missed the last episode or, like me, have been waiting for it all to slow down before they start paying proper attention, in case they start feeling a bit giddy. What did happen to Ikechi Anya? Who bumped off Martin Taylor? Is he the new bloke from them or is he the other new bloke from the others? Why the hell is Sharon back again? Why is Darcey Bussell’s nose so pointy?

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=5023

7th March 2012- Championship, West Ham United 1 Watford 1

Highlights: West Ham 1-1 Watford

West Ham needed a late Ricardo Vaz Te goal to earn a point as they blew their chance to go top of the Championship. Teenager Sean Murray fired Watford ahead midway through the second half with a fierce low drive.

Substitute Vaz Te struck with three minutes of normal time to play and West Ham laid siege on the Watford goal throughout nine minutes of stoppage time following a nasty injury to Dale Bennett.

Sean Dyche’s Watford, by contrast, were fearless. Outclassed on paper, they defended heroically and “looked after each other”, as Dyche put it. Leaders stood tall all over the pitch. Captain John Eustace shed blood for the cause. Goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, in his third game on loan from Manchester United, kept Watford in the game with some excellent saves. “We believe in what we do,” Dyche said. “We’re realistic, you know you’re in for a tough task at a place like this. But the mentality of the team is fantastic, and that was on show tonight.”

A clash of heads between John Eustace and Dale Bennett, Watford team-mates, forced a seven-minute delay. Eustace left the pitch, returning with a large bandage on his head, but Bennett, his neck in a brace, was taken off on a stretcher and then to hospital. “We suspect it’s not as serious as it looked,” Sean Dyche, the Watford manager, said. “We’re waiting on the doctors to see if he’ll be kept in overnight.”

Away matches are brilliant. Evening kick-offs are brilliant. Nothing-to-lose, dammit games are brilliant. So an evening kick off at the Boleyn Ground, preceded by several hours of build-up… verbal, nutritional (Nathan’s Pie and Mash shop a thing of rare beauty) and liquid is something to savour. Yet more so given that astonishingly sensible stewarding permits actual standing for the entire ninety minutes. That’ll never catch on. And of course that the Boleyn Ground is a claustrophobic, suffocatingly intense venue. Industrial-scale bubble machines of a size that would cause my daughters to combust with excitement are stationed at the side of the pitch, propelling countless swarms of the things into the night sky. I must have seen that here before, but I can’t believe it’s anything like as effective when the floodlights aren’t catching them. Not sure it would work quite as well with Hornets, one to mull over though. I’m sure there are financial reasons for leaving Upton Park, reasons that might even benefit the football club, but you’d have to be bloody mental to want to abandon this place. If the atmosphere is slightly subdued before the game, from kick off onwards it positively crackles.

More games from 7th March at https://oldwatford.com/tag/mar7

28th August 2011- Championship, Watford 2 Birmingham City 2

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4972

Martin Taylor scored an injury-time equaliser as Watford snatched a point against Birmingham City.

Martin Taylor’s late equaliser against his former club, during a thrilling finale, compounded a bad weekend for Birmingham manager Chris Hughton, whose transfer target Nile Ranger was arrested the night before.

So the first half of today’s game was a turgid embarrassment.

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7th December 2009-Championship, Watford 3 Queens Park Rangers 1

After 268 appearances and eight years on from his debut Lloyd Doyley had never scored for Watford, until this game.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=42275&id=4889

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Independent, 8 Dec 2009

Daily Telegraph, 8 Dec 2009

Evening Standard, 8 Dec 2009

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The club even printed t-shirts to mark the occasion.

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/4804113.more-shirts-celebrating-lloyd-doyleys-first-ever-goal-may-be-printed/

Lloyd did score again in 2012 at Bolton. In total he made 395 appearances for Watford scoring 2 goals. His final appearance came in the Boxing Day defeat at home to Wolves in 2014.