Tag Archives: Paolo Vernazza

6th November 2010- Championship, Watford 1 Nottingham Forest 1

Lewis McGugan cancelled out Jordon Mutch’s opener as Watford and Nottingham Forest shared the points.

The decision to start with Troy Deeney was only a surprise, if at all, for as long as it took for Jordon Mutch to give us the lead on three minutes. Whilst Camp looks thoroughly competent, the defence in front of him was a shambles every time a high ball came into the box. That we didn’t capitalise was down in part to simply not getting quality in often enough, down in part to luck, and down in part to some rather tolerant refereeing that saw Deeney wrestled away from the ball more than once and the safe option of penalising the striker adopted at both ends. Deeney’s card was marked by a number around us from the kick off, but for me he did a decent job of holding the ball up, linking the play and receiving the ball with his back to goal. Clearly an asset.

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=36337&id=4933

22nd November 2003- New Division One, Watford 0 West Ham United 0

So, West Ham are in the First Division again. Judging by the sell-out crowd, this is the cause of some excitement, a bit of a novelty. A nail bar in an old-fashioned part of town, rapidly becoming part of the scenery. Nottingham Forest. Derby County. Sheffield Wednesday. Sunderland. Queens Park Rangers. Norwich City. And so on. It happens very quickly indeed, and you suspect that this fixture will probably be taking place in front of, say, seventeen thousand people next season. Fourteen thousand in two years. Still, ‘Ammers fans, it’s not all doom and gloom…the weather might’ve perked up by then, eh?

http://watford.fcdb.info?s=39623&id=4579
https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2003-11-22
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/22-november-2003/

19th January 2003- New Division One, Watford 2 Norwich City 1

There was something almost Betjeman-esque about the first 45 minutes here yesterday, so effectively did 22 well-paid professionals evoke the spirit of the thousands of park games that kicked off around the country an hour or so earlier.

This was a wearisome game. A dreary, generally uneventful, rarely attractive football match between two largely uninspired sides. And played at a ludicrous time, just for effect. The equivalent of being dragged from your bed at five o’clock in the morning and forced to watch back-to-back episodes of “Heartbeat”, while being kept awake by periodic prodding with a blunt stick. Probably the most forgettable game since…erm, I can’t remember. But with a reward for anyone who managed to stick with it until the end.

The match itself couldn’t have made much of an impression on the TV viewers, though the three points have brought Watford back in touch with the teams chasing for a play-off place. Whilst a top half finish would have been beyond most Watford fans’ expectations at the start of the season, it is great to see that there is some hope of some end of season games. Keep up the good work Ray, Terry and the lads.

More games from 19th January at https://oldwatford.com/tag/jan19

20th February 2001- New Division One, Watford 0 Blackburn Rovers 1

Before Stuart Attwell came along to take his place at the top of the league table of Villain Refs there was a man called Rob Styles.

Feb20 0
Feb20 1
Feb20 2
Feb20 3
Feb20 4
Feb20 5
Feb20 6
Feb20 7
Feb20 8
Feb20 9
Feb20 10
Feb20 11
Feb20 12
Feb20 13
Feb20 14
Feb20 15
Feb20 16
Feb20 17
Feb20 18
Feb20 19
Feb20 20
Feb20 21
Feb20 22
Feb20 23
Feb20 24
Feb20 25
Feb20 26
Feb20 27
Feb20 28
Feb20 29
Feb20 30
Feb20 31

BBC SportBlackburn gained three vital points in their promotion bid at the expense of rivals Watford with referee Rob Styles playing a major part in their success.

Guardian, 21 Feb 2001
Daily Telegraph, 21 Feb 2001
Independent, 21 Feb 2001
Evening Standard, 21 Feb 2001

BSAD imageThis was one of those games, where discussing the football without first discussing the officials is impossible, where the man in black dominates proceedings to such an extent that the other twenty-four participants might as well have stayed at home, where seasons are turned on decisions made by arseholes. Hence, presumably, the fact that we’ve not yet had any comment from Graham Taylor.

Screen Shot 2018-02-20 at 09.28.41
Screen Shot 2018-02-20 at 09.27.30