From http://thewatfordnest.blog.com/ I haven’t read the papers this morning. I’ve not even read the match reports on Sky or BBC. I can’t bring myself to it do. I know what they’ll say, Watford are now relegated or words to that effect. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a picture of Elton John Warming up his Vocals on the back page of a tabloid. Such is the constant change in attitude of the press it is funny to remember that just 10 days ago we were the team they were suddenly tipping to survive…But that’s life at the bottom, each goal is the difference between a week of pessimism and week of optimism. Let’s get it out of the way from the start, 1.0 up at home, against fellow relegation strugglers who are down to 10 men is an opportunity to get 3 points that just can’t be wasted. When ‘One Size Fitz Hall’ got sent off for a challenge on Cavalli which 3 Counties Radio suggested was rather harsh, it really did seem that our luck was changing. Even better Darius Henderson scored again, a crucial goal, 1.0 up after 25 minutes and clearly dominating. But then it all started to go wrong. What happened after the 30 minute mark is unexplainable and only the players will know why they suddenly started to defend deep when really they should have made the man advantage count and exploit Wigan’s clear disunity at being a goal down. Instead Wigan were allowed to regroup, Foster making a save just as crucial as Henderson’s goal keeping us 1.0 up. He got injured in the process, a dead leg according to Boothroyd, so he couldn’t take the goal kicks, rather than exploiting the opportunity to pass the ball, Aidy Marriapa took the goal kicks, and we lost the man advantage. His kicks are also poor in comparison to Foster’s whose long kicks really are an asset which we missed. It was one of Marriapa’s kicks that failed to reach a Watford player and, although I was not at the game, I imagine confusion and loss of shape was one of the main causes for the equaliser. From that point on, only one team were going to win. Watford couldn’t pick themselves up and Wigan started to dictate play. Neil Price summed it up by saying they played like a team who had been dealt an injustice – maybe the anger from the Arsenal game was also responsible. At half time my dad phoned me from the Rookery to find out what 3 Counties were saying and to discover why the sending off had happened. It was a quick call, thrown away again seemed to be the message we both gave each other and not for the first time as Watford fans. As the 2nd Half began Wigan could have taken the lead but Landzaat took a shot himself when he could have passed to Heskey who would have been left with an open goal. Instead the scores remained level, it wasn’t until the final 5 minutes that Watford created chances, but even these were only half-chances, summed up by Bouazza’s cross which almost crept in. This was a game we arguably had to win, but it was more important we didn’t lose. IF we are to stay up, we have to win 6 out of 12 games minimum, that is a big ask, but not impossible. The Everton game will be tough, and there is no disguising the fact we are lacking quality at the moment and apart from the Fulham game we have not played well on Sky this season. I thought it was our destiny to stay up and I still do. Thanks for any comments, especially from those of you that were able to go. Aber.
That was good to read. Bouazza's cross? I thought it was a shot. It was funny the way, when he kicked it and it was clearly not going where you would expect a cross to go, there was a huge groan which then turned into an oooh, as it was clearly on target and starting to dip, then became an aaahh as it was tipped over the bar!
Simon Oxley described it as a mis-hit cross, so I'd guess that's where Aberwosit Horn picked that up from.
he was right infront of us and it was definitely a rubbish cross, i saw his face when he hit it. It was a very very good save, did you see the keepers smile on the hightlights. he knew how lucky he had been.
Well then, why wasn't he having a shot? Perhaps he will be encouraged to try seeing how close this one came.
