Tag Archives: Marcus Gayle

1st November 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Rotherham United 0

Danny Webber claimed his fourth goal of the campaign as his solitary strike earned Watford the victory over Rotherham, despite the heroics of the visitors’ stand-in goalkeeper Gary Montgomery.

You’d rather hope that our ambitions might stretch a little further than that, of course. Being a bit better than Bradford isn’t exactly a towering achievement, after all. But it’ll do for now, I guess. For all that the season started with fairly high expectations, not being in the bottom three seems like a useful point from which to begin again. It could be worse. And it might get better.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=35051&id=4575

21st October 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Coventry City 1

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

BBC: Veteran defender Steve Staunton struck in injury time to earn Coventry a point against Watford at Vicarage Road. Scott Fitzgerald had looked to have won the game with a goal seven minutes from time until Staunton lashed home a volley.

Daily Telegraph, 22 Oct 2003

Evening Standard, 22 Oct 2003

BSAD: A reminder, if we needed it, that beating a team as appalling as Bradford is nothing much in itself, merely something to build upon. And we weren’t building upon it. Instead, Coventry were so much more lively, quickly over-running a midfield that suddenly seemed too lightweight, attacking a defence that suddenly looked rather vulnerable. Jack Smith was in for one of those games in which you gain experience rather than confidence, often out-numbered without sufficient protection from those in front of him; Sean Dyche was to be tested too, albeit that he looked rather more like his old self than on several recent occasions. We were already looking towards half-time.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-10-21

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/21-october-2003/

18th October 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Bradford City 0

Scott Fitzgerald’s fourth goal of the season gave Watford a deserved victory against their fellow Division One strugglers. The Hornets dominated but had to wait until the 61st minute for the breakthrough when Fitzgerald converted Micah Hyde’s cross.

It would be very easy indeed to get carried away by this most comprehensive of victories. We shouldn’t, for it is impossible to escape the fact that Bradford were utter drivel, barely bothering to turn up for a match that quickly became almost farcical. Before kickoff, you looked over to the Vic Road end to pick out a few meagre handfuls of away supporters, clustered like flea-bitten regulars around the bar of a particularly dingy, long-forgotten backstreet pub. After kickoff, you realised that travelling hundreds of miles to watch such a sorry bunch might not come top of your things-to-do list either. They were simply dreadful.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=32177&id=4571

14th October 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Walsall 1

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Watford had a Chris Baird own-goal to thank for a share of the spoils against Walsall at Vicarage Road.

BSAD report: As match reports go, this one seems about as pointless as the game itself. That is, it would’ve suited everyone if Ray Lewington had been able to make a phonecall to Colin Lee, negotiate a one-all draw, and save the trouble of a Tuesday night spent watching nonsense and listening to nonsense. And save me the trouble of a Wednesday morning spent writing (about) nonsense. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t entertaining…and, yes, we’ll take a point in the absence of anything better. Next, please….

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=31642&id=4570

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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

27th September 2003- New Division One, Watford 1 Ipswich Town 2

Ipswich came back from a goal down to secure their first away win of the season at the expense of struggling Watford.

Here we are, then. Up to our necks in a swamp and sinking rapidly. You don’t need me to tell you want this result means, a ghastly defeat in a must-win fixture. And you don’t need me to tell you how it felt either, how the last thirty minutes were like watching your home being destroyed by a wrecking ball. And you certainly don’t need me to attempt to lift spirits with some kind of faux-chirpy, it’s-only-a-game, chin-up-son philosophy. No, you don’t need that.

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4567