Watford 3 Derby County 1 03.05.09
A scoreline that flattered the hosts, Watford dominated and won the game in the first 30 minutes of this final game of the season, which left Watford finishing in 13th place in the Championship.
A switch to 4-4-2 accomodating Priskin and Rasiak, in what could be his last game for the club folowing his season long loan from Southampton, paid dividends with both strikers causing havoc with the resurgent McAnuff a troublesome thorn in Derby’s wilting side.
Jack Cork, he too completing his last game for the club after his season long loan from Chelsea played as well as he has done all season, although he did look tired in the final 20 minutes. A player of his quality we will need next season.
A final win to send the fans home happy and into what could be an interesting pre-season.
Watford – Comfortably in mid table at the end, Rodgers turned round a turbulent start and has given us hope going into next season.
Rasiak could have had a hat trick in his last game for the Horns, we could do with snapping him up over the summer, even if it is for another 12 month loan.
Without Ross Jenkins in the middle, Dany Rose came in and played ok, he is, like Johnnie Jackson was, a Spurs loan player who will not be missed when he returns to his parent club.
We passed the ball well, looked threatening every time we went forward and the core of this team could do well next term if we can keep our key players over the summer sojurn.
Birmingham – This was a performance from a team who had nothing to play for except Pride – and they failed miserably. Cloughie Jnr will have a lot of work to do in the summer.
That may well involve taking John Eustace, scorer of the Derby goal, to Pride Park in a summer switch, even if he is borrowed from us. His celebration, arms aloft to the Derby fans, will not have made many Watford fans happy.
Other than that, the Rams were toothles and playing at a pre-season friendly pace, their safety already confirmed.
They’ll need a big restructuring job over the next few months; Nigel Clough may just be the man to do it.
