Watford 1 Reading 1 20.11.10

Watford v. Reading has been an encounter with a little added spice in recent years. The ghost goal, Brendan Rodgers, Jobi McAnuff, relegation deciders… what more could you want to give pre-match expectations a boost in the stands?

Watford haven’t had much luck of late, with dodgy penalties awarded against, a bunch of goal of the season contenders conceded, and the ball not bouncing in quite the right way.

And do it was with Reading’s opener. A lifeless first half punctuated with another controversial goal,a hand used by Shane Long in controlling the ball before squaring for Hunt to score.

Watford, despite a 4-3-3 formation, looked limp and it took a corner before half time for the Hornets to get back into the match. Deeney nodded in from a corner to tie the game shortly before the break.

Troy needs goals and slowly he’s notching them up. But for an investment of half a million quid plus, much more is needed.

The second half started with a blistering pace, Watford tearing into the reading back four time after time again. Reading were rocking but Watford couldn’t find a break through.

1-1 was, in the end, probably the correct result, despite both teams huffing and puffing to try and find a winner.

Watford: It’s now six games without a win, this isn’t a time to panic of course, but 3 points sooner rather than later would be quite nice please thanks very much. Martin Taylor had his best performance in a Watford shirt, complete with broken nose, an injury sustained in the first half. It is exactly that sort of fighting attitude we’ll need through the cold winter months.

Reading: A poor away record indicated they’d be happy with anything from today, they probably will be. On today’s showing they don’t look a playoff worthy team, but on that note, neither do we.

Watford 1 Doncaster Rovers 1 08.08.09

Watford and Doncaster Rovers, two clasic names that you’ll rarely see on MOTD, played out a tough game in searing heat where a draw was an inevitable result.

Watford, playing a 4-4-1-1 gave debuts to Scott Severin and Danny Graham in a game that could have taken place at any time last season. For large periods in the game neither team dominated as the back to school atmosphere at the Vic quickly became morgue-like. A bouyant start saw the fans loud and proud, and even more so following Danny Graham’s debut goal – a proper poacher’s tap in. Already, the boy has a song, and may find himself quickly beoming a fan favourite.

Doncaster set themselves up to take a draw and executed their plan well. A cracking equaliser quickly silenced the home crowd who barely stirred for the following 60 minutes, who had been practising anti-Rodgers songs throughout the early tentative exchanges. The only other highlight was goal that wasn’t with Soctt Loach making a fine save from the floor to keep the ball from crossing the line in a goal mouth scramble in the firtst half.

Watford – A decent result against a finicky team who time wasted and made many dirty little tackles. Given the heat and pre-season turmoil, we came out more disappointed by a draw, but considering the other results, does nothing to help us work out what we’ve got in store this season. We’ll play better, we’ll play worse.

We can be pleased that Danny Graham got his goal, but McAnuff’s lack of effort will have done little to convince Watford supporters that he’snot after a move to Reading. He’ll need to start proving himself over the course of the next few weeks.

We are going to need another striker to support Danny, Tommy is much better suited to being out on the right, and Hoskins did little with the short amount of time he had on the pitch after replacing Jobi late in the second half.

Doncaster – Came for a draw, got one, and will be delighted. They looked good on the break but rubbish at the back and will find themselves struggling against the bigger boys in this division.