29/10/11 Championship Watford 3-2 Peterborough

Please Note: This match preview was compiled and written by alip01.



Watford FC vs Peterborough United
Saturday 29th October 2011, 3.00pm @ Vicarage Road

Peterborough come into Saturday’s match at Vicarage road as the league’s second top scorers. Currently in 10th position and only 2 points off the play offs, like the other promoted sides Southampton and Brighton, they have made a bright start to life in the Championship. Despite only winning 3 of their last 5 matches, Peterborough have scored two or more goals in all but one of them, so will almost certainly prove a handful for Watford’s defence. Peterborough have so far sold more than 1,700 tickets of an allocation of just over 2,000, so there should be a good crowd at the Vic.

The Posh’s most recent fixture was a 2-3 home defeat to Leeds. Having conceded to the visitors after just 4 minutes with an impressive volley from Andy Keogh, Gabriel Zakuani levelled for the home side with a powerful header. There were no further goals scored before half time, although after 37 minutes striker Lee Tomlin was shown a straight red card for his poor challenge on Keogh. This means that he will miss Saturday’s match. Now down to 10 men, Peterborough inevitably faced an uphill struggle, conceding their second goal 10 minutes into the second half. However Darren Ferguson’s side have made a habit of clinching late goals, and looked to have gained a late point as Little took advantage of Leeds keeper Rachubka’s error, levelling the score to 2-2. However, the game was not finished yet, and after 6 minutes of injury time, despite there only being 4 minutes signalled, O'Dea found the back of the net, much to the annoyance of Ferguson. Ferguson argued that not only should the match have ended, but that O’Dea should have been sent off for an earlier foul when he was the last man, instead getting away with just a yellow card.

Recent Form: LWWLW



Grant McCann



Last season Peterborough’s captain Grant McCann provided the most assists in League 1 along with 13 goals as the Posh pushed for promotion. He joined the club at the start of last season on a free transfer from S****horpe, and went on to claim the captain’s armband within weeks. This season the midfielder has scored 6 goals, making him the club’s most prolific goal scorer so far. However in a side which has already scored 26 goals in 13 matches, goals can come from anywhere in the side.



Dyche now has another striker to choose from in the form of Beattie, whilst Adam Thompson has returned from his loan spell at Brentford. I can’t see either going straight into the team, though with Dyche you never know! Kightly may have recovered from his injury, so I’d expect him to be on the bench at least. There are no new reported injuries at the time of writing, so Dyche is likely to field a similar team to the one that lost 3-2 to Hull last Saturday, but with the new faces he could field a very different side!

Watford starting XI vs Hull (L 3-2):

Loach
Doyley - Mirfin - Mariappa - ****inson
Yeates - Eustace - Hogg - Deeney
Iwelumo - Sordell

Substitutes
Gilmartin, Hodson, Forsyth, Buaben, Garner


Tomlin picked up a red card against Leeds in Peterborough’s last match, so will not be available for selection. There are no new reported injuries at the time of writing, so Ferguson will likely stick to the same side as the one which he fielded against Leeds.

Peterborough starting XI from last fixture:

Jones
Little – Bennett – Zakuani – Alcock
McCann - Frecklington – Rowe – Boyd
Tomlin – Sinclair

Substitutes
Lewis, Thompson, Tunnicliffe, Ball, Taylor



There have only been two recent meetings between the two sides, in the 2009/10 season. Peterborough won both of these, despite being relegated later that season.

13/03/10 Watford 0 – 1 Peterborough
19/12/09 Peterborough 2 – 1 Watford

Thanks to 'Poshman' over at www.theposhforum.co.uk for his feedback on some questions. The rest of the forum population didn't seem too responsive, so just the one set of views this week. Here's what he had to say anyway!

How do you think Peterborough are fairing in their return to the Championship?
I think we've been a bit more realistic this time around, we didn't come into it expecting to continue the charge up the league which many did after two successive promotions. As a result we've seen good performances actually bring results unlike last time out.

What are your expectations for the rest of the season?
Avoiding relegation is still the priority, I think we should manage that but we can't afford to get complacent. We also still need to sort out our defensive issues as no clean sheets as yet.

Who has been your key player this season, and are there any particularly strong/weak areas of the team?
There are players throughout the team that can provide a spark. Grant McCann is a key provider and can produce quality from set pieces; George Boyd on his day is up there with the best in the league; Paul Taylor has shown real glimpses of quality when he's been in the team.

Brighton and Southampton have both also made impressive starts to the season, do you think there is any particular reason why the three promoted teams have done well so far?
Success breeds success perhaps? Perhaps teams have been a little complacent about those coming up, but teams can start well and fade away so hopefully that wont be us.

Darren Ferguson returned to the club in January having already had one crack at the whip in League 1 and the Championship with you. What do you make of his appointment, and what has allowed Peterborough to make a better start to the season than during his last spell at the club?
Last time around he hadn't experienced anything but success as a manager and when things started to go a bit wrong I don't think he or the Chairman knew how to deal with it. This time around I think they were more prepared for it and came into it with far more realistic expectations.

Craig Mackail-Smith was the Football League's top scorer last season, what do you make of his transfer fee and do you think he will be missed as the season progresses?
How can you not miss a player who scored 35 goals in a season? I think what fans miss most is his continuous running and 'never give up' attitude. It's certainly made it hard for those who have tried to replace him. I was a bit surprised/disappointed with Brighton being his chosen destination, but the money has come in and you have to move on. I think he'll always hold a place at London Road because of the effort and committment he showed throughout.

What do you think of Watford as a club?
I'll be honest when saying they're not a club I have many feelings about.

Finally, what's your score prediction?
2-1 to the Posh
​

At The Bookies

Watford Win @ 13/8
Draw @ 13/5
Peterborough Win @ 6/4
(Odds Courtesy of www.williamhill.com)

Or visit the vBookie to throw some of your hard-earned vCash at this one prior to kick off on Saturday​

 

2-0 to peterborough.

 

This is a must win game. I see a nervy 1-0 to us.

 

If we lose I think Dyche will get he boot. He may even if we win. We need a convincing victory but there has been little to suggest that will come.

Posh 1-goal victory.

 

Andy D'Urso is the ref for the game. We need a win, that's obvious.

 

Peterborough have 12 goals in the last 5 games...

Watford 0 - Peterborough 3

 

Andy Durso is the ref ?!?? lol , we have had it

 

0-3, a textbook win for Posh against little fight from an abject Watford team.

 

Can't see Dyche being given the boot, whatever the result in this.

 

Watford 0-9 Peterborough

 

Thats the sort of score you used to get on `brian cloughs` football

only over 30`sn are gonna get waht i mean , where else have you seen grantham town on a computer game!!

Anyway , i think if we lose and its pretty abject , he could be gone

 

Gilmartin has been in Ireland this week as he was sat on the plane from Knock to Luton last night chatting to my future mother in law so he won't be very prepared to play if he has to! Bit strange to have a member of the team away, all be it a sub not expecting to play, from the squad with a game coming up at the weekend, especially as Loach's position in the team is not certain at the moment.

 

jet lag pretty bad from Ireland is it mate ?

 

Yep, it certainly is!

 

I can see it being a dull game. Hoof it up to Iwelumo as a last resort. Boro go up the other end and score a scrappy goal and win 1-0.

 

If he starts, it wont be our last resort because we'll be hoofing it up to him all game i expect.

 

I'm getting to the point where I don't care. We win and we get some points, we lose and Dyche is closer to the sack. In an ideal world Dyche would punch Darren Ferguson in the face, get sent to the stands, someone else takes charge for the rest of the game and we win. Then Dyche is sacked after being given a 6 month ban and we get someone decent in charge. Can't see it happening sadly

 

I'm starting to think 'meh'. It's not so much the dull football as Dyche's insistence on bringing in an army of journeymen, to the point it doesn't feel like Watford anymore. It's a disconnect; last couple of seasons we could be proud of our youngsters and exciting play - now there is.........well, not much really.

 

Summed up perfectly.

 

5-0 Watford, COYH!, keep the faith lads

 

Can genuinely see us sneaking this 1-0

 

I wish I had your optimism. All week I have been dreading tomorrow and I feel we haven't hit our lowest yet. I think we are on for a tonking and by 4:45 there will be a lot of bad feeling inside the Vic.

 

Agreed, I think we could be on the hands of a big, big defeat tomorrow - which will lead to a very angry hostile atmosphere. Peterborough are one of the best teams in the division going forward, it could be one of the most memorable days at the Vic in recent years, but not for any particularly pleasant reason.

 

We will win, guaranteed

 

The views of one Peterborough fan has been added into the preview. Unfortunately Peterborough fans don't seem to keen with one stating "Why give Dyche more info than he already has" or something along those lines.

Oh well, updated nonetheless.

 

I'm just hoping football is the winner.

 

He almost definitely has none.

 

According to the BBC:

It's worse than we thought, lads.

 

I hate this Watford side. It's not our team anymore. Dyche has dispensed with the Watford tradition of bringing in youth and has filled the team with a bunch of uncommited, passionless journeymen who play in a way that I just don't relate to.

I don't want us to win this game. I want us to lose. I want us to lose every game until this cancer is removed from our club. I've even come to terms with relegation, as I fear it's likely, perhaps inevitable. But if I hear that Posh have taken the lead on Saturday, I will punch the air in delight and hope that it's a final nail in Dyche's coffin as manager.

I don't want us to scrape a win, or suddenly show some fight in one game, to give the ******* even more time.

I want us to lose and I want him gone. I want him never to darken our club again with his constipated, guileless take on football and I want his destruction of our youth development policy to end.

Watford 0-3 Posh - I hope.

 

Im a better fan than you Moog

 

Magnificent post.

 

3-1 Watford Beattie Hat Trick :biggrin:

 

watford 0-2 peterborough.

This is the first time in years i have not been looking forward to going

 

I was thinking the same. Do you remember how great it was to be excited about going to a match. Now it's sort of a thing you automatically do without any emotion - except fear:doom:

 

Moogus youre bang opn the button as usual, my mate. THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING !!!