I wasn't too sure what to expect with regard to this home tie against the Seasiders. I know they haven't won for a few months now, but our form has been patchy at best too. Every time I think we have turned a corner we seem to turn another corner back to where we started with abject performances and results like at Bolton. The starter was a bit bland and the pudding nondescript, but the tender chicken and roast potatoes were absolutely top drawer, made all the more delicious by being washed down with four pints of Budweiser, a bottle of red and a large brandy. I got to the ground at around one o'clock, after accepting an invitation to one of the executive boxes and giving up my usual Rookery seat to a neighbour. I stood in the doorway with a pint in my hand and cast my eyes over a near empty Vicarage Road while waiting for the other guests to arrive, and my mind wandered back over the many years I have spent in this excellent ramshackle ground steeped in my own personal history. After weeks of seemingly nothing happening on the East Stand, some actual steel is starting to take shape. It looks a bit flimsy and a little bit tinpot but it still feels good to see something actually happening over there. I have never sat or stood over on that side of the ground and I doubt I ever will, for some reason it has never appealed to me in the slightest. It is not my place. One or two people are now in the ground, but no more than about twenty. Oh how times have changed! Even when I used to stand on a milk crate leaning on the white wall that ran around the dog track, lots of people were in the ground by at least two o'clock. And even when I was old enough to stand under the old scoreboard on the Vic Road the place was nearly packed by two o'clock. You wouldn't have got a decent spot if you left it any later! And I think to myself that this is the reason why safe standing won't be the answer to recreating the old atmospheres of the past the way people think it will do. Yes, standing is a much better way to watch football, but safe standing still means a designated space, a space that doesn't require you to get there until ten minutes before kick-off, and that is the problem. Old style retro atmosphere wasn't created just by standing alone. It was the fact that everyone was in the ground a good full hour before 3pm. A general collective sense of anticipation, anxiety and trepidation that grew and would swell as 3pm got ever closer, encouraged by singing and baiting the opposition fans to abate the fears of the pending game and to overcome any foreboding that the match may bring, as well as something constructive to do to pass the time. Atmosphere used to build slowly until reaching fever pitch at kick off, and safe standing will not recreate that. People will still just turn up a few minutes before 3pm like they turn up at the cinema to watch a film, emotionless yet expecting to be entertained. You cannot just switch an atmosphere on, it has to build slowly, and naturally. By the time the rest of the guests arrived I was on my second pint, and looking forward to my dinner. Just after two o'clock the teamsheets were brought in. I nearly choked on an asparagus tip when I saw who we had the bench, a near full 2nd eleven made up of centre-halves. I haven't been less inspired since the days of only having one substitute, and that sub being Jimmy Gilligan. I suppose it makes sense though bearing in mind that nearly a third of our team is made up of central defenders. As the Z-Cars finally crackled though the distorted speaker system I parked my backside onto my comfortable padded seat, with loads of leg room, and watched the remaining 10,000 people take their seats. Perched high up on the half way line I was perfectly placed to see the pitch properly and was looking forward to hearing how both sets of fans sounded. The Upper Rous was more or less completely silent, apart from some reserved clapping when the players were announced. For the first ten minutes the Blackpool supporters were making some great noise accompanied by their drummer which was surprising considering there was only about 500 of them there. I actually believe that the Seasiders positive start to the match, and our equally slow start was some part down to that support. The Rookery appeared silent. Blackpool's noise soon abruptly stopped though as sudden as it had started once we realised we were in a game and actually started to exert some dominance, and I never heard another pip out of them all game. The first was a right treat. An excellent corner ball delivered with a little ferocity, perfect accuracy, and finished off with a bullet header. A proper header. No nonsense. Poor marking yes, but who cares, there are not many sights in life more satisfying than a net ripping bullet header - except maybe a hard accurate volley, or a sweet tidy and well presented v@gina. The goal made all the more wonderful by the announcer giving it to Deeney. Watford looked like a different team to the one I expected to see after the Birmingham game and the Bolton fiasco. I know Blackpool were poor but we pushed them aside extremely professionally. A good mix of passing play, direct when we needed to be, but all the time cohesive and professional. I was extremely pleased. Deeney's first took a fortunate deflection but it was still satisfying to see the net ripple. 2-0. Could we still lose it from here like we have done so may times before? No. No way. The third was the sort of gift you only receive when things are going to completely go your way. Incompetent ball play from defenders with no confidence, pounced upon clinically and efficiently. So much so that the 1881 woke up. If they were awake before this then they were hardly audible. Half time. Cheese and crackers, another pint of Bud and a glass of red. Bring on the second half! Blackpool started well, their best period of the game. We sort of switched off, and as the tangerine sashed team had nothing to play for they actually started playing. Why they didn't start with that Bishop from the outset I will never know, as they looked a different team entirely with him orchestrating things. It didn't last long though and Watford, playing like a training game, took control again. Their defence was booting the ball out of play wildly. One such ball flew high into the newly erected steel structure, and I whispered under my breath, 'Oh please, God, don't let that ball knock it all over.' The best move of the match - a great passing move from deep and pinged around effortlessly in the middle of the park before a cheeky little looping ball over the last defender found Deeney who stretched round on the turn and in one motion volleyed it towards goal. It was wide, but it was a great move. The Rookery asked Beppe for a wave. I haven't really heard us sing his name with any conviction before and was pleased that someone off the bench approached him and translated the meaning of the chants, to which he duly responded with a few waves. Nice touch. It made me smile. A lot. I so want him to succeed. I can't handle another period of transition! Deeney's second was a real treat, and well deserved. 4-0. Deeney disappears too often for my liking, and it was good to see him so comfortable with another competent striker playing along side him. I think the whole team played well. I will ignore the fact that it was against a very poor Blackpool, because there were too many good things about the match that I enjoyed. Daniel 'sign him up' Tozser was terrific. I think the club took far too long in replacing Chalobah, but now we have, and I just hope it is not late in the season for him to make up for the ground we lost in mucking about with the likes of Iriney. One more pint after the whistle and then home. I enjoyed my day in hospitality but I am also looking forward to taking my place back in the Rookery. The executive box was a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. It is not my place. Forget the asparagus, I wouldn't mind choking on a whole chicken if we can repeat that level of performance for the remaining 13 games. Apart from the staff, I was one of the first to arrive at the ground and one of the last to leave. It is days like this that I truly love the life sentence of being a Watford fan. Maybe the season can start now, and we can go on amazing run to make the play-offs! But deep down I know only too well that our next abject performance is just around the corner, and it always will be, because we are Watford, and somewhere deep down inside of me I kind of quite like it that way. We now have ten days to bask in our 4-0 win until we play Doncaster. Come on you 'Orns!!!
Anyone that can write coherently after 4 pints, a bottle of red and a large brandy gets a like from me!
Anyone that can remember a game coherently after 4 pints, a bottle of red and a large brandy gets a like from me!
Lionel needs to sign you up for 'Tales from the Vicarage 3', very well written piece - good work Sir! Oh and.... Anyone that can write coherently after 4 pints, a bottle of red and a large brandy gets a like from me!
