Monday 2nd January 2012 @ Fratton Park, Kick-Off: 3.00pm Watford kick off the 2012 calendar year with an away game against Portsmouth, a mere 48 hours after taking apart Championship strugglers Doncaster Rovers at Vicarage Road on New Year’s Eve. Due to this, and other results going in favour of the ‘Orns, they now sit in 17th place, having leapfrogged Monday’s opponents Portsmouth, and sit 9 points clear of the relegation zone on 30pts, whilst being only 6 off the playoff spots. Portsmouth sit directly below the Golden Boys with a game in hand on 28pts. Having lost then-manager Steve Cotterill to Nottingham Forest two months ago, Michael Appleton was placed in charge of the South-Coast side. Since then, results have been mixed for Pompey. Since Watford emerged 2-0 victors at Vicarage Road on November 19th, they have tasted defeat only once, at the hands of Millwall in their second last outing. To round off 2011, they secured their second 1-1 draw with Leicester if the season, and an indifferent run of form sees them occupying a place in the bottom half of the Championship table going into the second half of the season. Whilst Watford boast the league’s current longest unbeaten run, now stretching to 8 games, they have also only lost once in their last 11 fixtures. However, points on the road have been harder to come by, picking up just 2 wins, along with 5 draws on the road this season. Portsmouth’s home record in contrast strongly reflects the reality that Fratton Park is where they pick up most of their points. They have only been defeated here twice so far this campaign, picking up 6 wins, 3 draws, and conceding few in the process. Whilst Portsmouth were engaged in a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Leicester on New Year’s Eve, it is likely that Watford’s squad will have had the easier recovery of the two, after playing against only 10 men for the final 30 minutes against Doncaster in their 4-1 rout. Once the ‘Orns had regained the lead, they were comfortable through to the finish, with Donny not even so much as testing Loach between the Watford sticks. Marvin Sordell, who bagged a brace, and Troy Deeney were both substituted with 10 minutes to go, meaning they’ll have been glad of that extra bit of recovery time, whilst Joe Garner and Chris Iwelumo also got a run out. John Eustace will have no doubt created selection issues once more for Dyche in the middle of the park, coming off the bench and scoring within 1 minute, and controlling the remainder of the game. So it will be interesting to see whether fatigue, and playing two games in 72 hours will have any significant effect on these two sides and their observed levels of fitness. Recent meetings between these sides have been few and far between. In 2006/07, this was a Premier League fixture, in which Pompey emerged victorious. Following the subsequent relegations of both clubs, this is the 4th meeting in the past two seasons. On the whole, Watford have edged the recent encounters, and in the last two meetings at Vicarage Road, have taken maximum points in thoroughly dominant performances. The Hornets’ performances have been less convincing on the South Coast however, registering defeats in their last two visits. Given there have only been 6 meetings between the two clubs in the last 7 years however, these results count for little now, and you can be sure that Sean Dyche will be demanding the best possible start from his men to 2012 and the second half of the season, looking to build upon the 30 points already acquired. Portsmouth’s Recent League Form: DWWDLD Liam Lawrence (Midfielder) Republic of Ireland international Liam Lawrence, first moved to Portsmouth on loan in the summer of 2010, following Pompey’s relegation from the Premiership as part of a part-exchange deal with Dave Kitson, which saw the pair head to the South coast, whilst Marc Wilson moved the other way to Stoke. The deal allegedly did not go through until 12 minutes after the transfer window closed, which meant they signed on emergency loan deals until January 1st 2011, whereby the deals were made permanent. In his first season at Portsmouth, he found the net 7 times in 31 appearances, however, he is yet to hit the target this term. Prior to moving here, Lawrence had spells at Mansfield Town, Sunderland and Stoke. As a right-sided midfielder with plenty of Premier League experience, he is definitely one to look out for on January 2nd. Watford once again have no fresh injury concerns ahead of this clash, though Michael Kightly and Nyron Nosworthy are set to play their final games under their current loan contracts. Martin Taylor and Stephen McGinn are still absent with their long term injuries. Dyche may name an unchanged starting line-up for the third consecutive game after gaining maximum points against Doncaster, though Eustace’s goal from the bench may cause a ‘good’ problem for Dyche with regards to his central midfield partnership against Pompey. WATFORD Starting XI vs Doncaster Rovers (W 4-1): Loach Hodson – Mariappa – Nosworthy – ****inson Yeates – Buaben – Hogg – Kightly Deeney – Sordell Subs: Bond, Doyley, Eustace, Iwelumo, Garner For Portsmouth, Greg Halford and Joel Ward miss out through suspension, and Ricardo Rocha faces a late fitness check after missing out in the draw against Leicester. Luke Varney could also return after missing three games. Aside from this, Portsmouth have a full squad to choose from. PORTSMOUTH Starting XI vs Leicester (D 1-1): Henderson Halford – Mokoena – Pearce – Mattock Lawrence – Mullins – Norris – Ward Kitson Futacs Subs: Ashdown, Hreidarsson, Williams, Huseklepp, Benjani 19/11/11 Watford 2-0 Portsmouth 01/01/11 Watford 3-0 Portsmouth 16/10/10 Portsmouth 3-2 Watford 09/04/07 Watford 4-2 Portsmouth 18/11/06 Portsmouth 2-1 Watford 30/11/04 Watford 3-0 Portsmouth Unfortunately there is not enough time for me to compile this section around the New Year’s celebrations, therefore this section will not be published in this preview. Portsmouth have been good at Fratton Park so far this season, however, the Hornets’ current unbeaten run now stretches to 8 games – the longest in the Championship at the moment – and having picked up a number of draws on the road recently, providing the ‘Orns can turn in another good performance, they could well bring a New Year’s gift back to Hertfordshire with them on Monday evening in the final game of both Kightly and Nosworthy's current loan deals. Portsmouth 1-2 Watford. At The Bookies: Portsmouth Win @ 21/20 Draw @ 11/5 Watford Win @ 21/10 (Odds courtesy of www.williamhill.com) Or visit the vBookie prior to kick-off at Fratton Park on January 2nd, if you have some spare vCash lying around that you want to throw away on this one!
I will not post much. I am not as clever as some as regards the cutting edge of replies. I observe from a distance and my login name may remind others of the pedigree of supporting the Hornets. I post to say that as (very) long term fan who now sits in the UR how we should always take a medium term view of those that are chosen to lead our team through thick and thin. Today was hopefully a realization of what can be achieved if you have faith in what has been created when EJ and GT got together back in the 70's. I watch our team and observe what goes on in these forums. We have had and continue to enjoy a fantastic return on what we see for a community of our size. Happy New Year . COYH
I'm looking forward to this one, we normally take a decent following down to Pompey and it was a great away day last year despite the defeat. 1-1.
Same here. They have looked an improved side in recent times. Will be happy with any result from this.
Loach; Hodson, Mariappa (c), Nosworthy, ****inson; Yeates, Buaben, Hogg, Kightly; Sordell, Deeney. Subs: Bond (GK), Doyley, Eustace, Garner, Iwelumo.
Yep, i've lost count of the amount of times he's put in a MOTM display and then been sent off with a dodgy red card.
Oh Dear oh Dear, another Bond Classic Only on the pitch for 5 minutes before he concedes Cant wait to send him death threats on twitter
not sure it is a classic moment, I saw the same thing happen to Peter Shilton once and Dave Beasent. It happens !
Only three attempts at goal? I'm not overly bothered considering it's our first loss in 2 months, was going to happen sooner rather than later. It's just a bit frustrating that we're still stuck in 18th position
I'm sure you can count past half a dozen. He did have a good game up tp that point and started to command his area, I hope that that doesn't detract his progress
Didn't sound from commentary like Loach really knew much about it, lino actually flagged for a foul on Loach so it was a fairly harsh decision. He kept us in the game today and sounded like he came for a fair few crosses so he was faily decent overall. Good chance now for Bond to make a claim - came to claim a few balls in the air apparently, and could do nothing for their second. Kightly is going to be missed hugely, he was the only player who looked dangerous today from the sound of it
Loach is suspended for the FA Cup game, a match he wouldn't have played anyway. No need to recall Gilmartin, he's cack anyway. Bond to start, Bonham on the bench.
Definately agree. Sounded like Loach was having a good game uptil the sending off and even that sounded like the wrong decision. Having a winger that actually has some pace & trickery like Kightly has made a big difference to us so hopefully we can replace him
