Today we faced out-of-form Watford, who are fighting for a playoff position, at the MKM Stadium. We suffered a 3-1 defeat to Middlesbrough during the week and we were looking to get back on form. We headed into the game with three draws, one win and one loss in our previous five league matches, whereas Watford have lost three, won one and drawn one. We had nothing to play for, however, our opponents did; if they won, their chances at fighting for the playoffs would still be there. We may have messed up their dream at getting back into the top tier. Oh well.
That was a mediocre game, but we got over the line in the hardest way possible. We scored in the first half, however, we did not seem to want to score anymore. It was not the most enjoyable game to watch and we desperately need our main players–Estupinan, Connolly and Tetteh–as there is no energy or speed in the attack. We have a midfielder up front at the moment, yet we have strikers on the bench. I am sure Rosenior knows what he is doing, but it seems odd to have no actual strikers within the starting eleven. Vaughan plays as an attacker too, but his role is a midfielder.
Before the match started, me, my grandad and my brother went to one of the local pubs before the game and we had the pleasure of watching our rivals, Leeds, get beaten by Fulham. I really hope that their poor form continues (sorry teachers) as I would love to visit Elland Road. However, they keep getting away with it as the teams below them lose too, which is keeping them safe–for now. Anyway, enough of those scums, let’s get back to the better team in Yorkshire.
The line-up had one change since our outing in Teesside on Wednesday, with Tufan replacing Pelkas. That meant the rest of the starting eleven was the usual, with Karl Darlow in goal, we must permanently buy him; Jacob Greaves, Callum Elder, Sean McLoughlin and Lewie Coyle as the back line; Jean Seri and Regan were below them and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, Ozan Tufan and Harry Vaughan were above Adama Traore, who was up front on his own. On the bench were: Greg Docherty; Malcolm Ebiowei, who was not named in the previous game; Ryan Woods; Dimitrios Pelkas; Xavier Simons; Matt Ingram and Alfie Taylor. No Ryan Longman or Alfie Jones and our injury list is getting worse. Hopefully next season is not the same and we have a consecutive starting eleven.
Watford started off as the more controlled side and we were second best in the early stages. We just could not settle or keep the ball. It was very different style of play compared with how we started against Boro. But, we eventually settled and took the lead in the 25th minute; Jean Seri found Tufan in a pocket of space just outside the penalty area. He passed it to Vaughan, whose backheel teed up Slater on the left, however, he was brought down by Ryan Andrews before he could take his shot. It took the referee a few seconds to think and then he pointed to the spot. We do not get many penalties at home, so this was a treat. Also, Rosenior mentioned that we needed a bit of luck for the rest of the season and we are certainly getting it.
Tufan was put up to the task and he comfortably smashed the ball into the bottom-left corner. What a gift in the early stages. Surely this would give us confidence to score a few more? But, we did not and decided that one was enough.
We gifted them a chance to equalise in the 29th minute; Watford played a ball from the back, which was easy for McLoughlin to clear, however, he made a mess and scuffed up his header. This allowed Joao Pedro to drive up to the goal, but an onrushing Darlow and a poor judgement from the captain saw the ball fly over the crossbar. This was a relief as the chants of ‘you’re f***king sh*t’, which would have been silenced, started in my stand.
For the rest of the half, the stadium became like a library and the pitch turned into a hospital wing. I do not know what happened, but nothing exciting happened after those chances and both teams sat back. Tufan rolled around on the floor for ages and a few of their players did too, but they did it for a reason, which my grandad told me after the match. They would go down whenever we won a throw-in, which involved a little tussle, to allow their players to get back into position. It was bloody annoying, but it paid off.
In the next 45 minutes, it is safe to say that nothing happened–we did not even have a shot! Watford were the better side and they could have taken the lead a couple of times. In the 63rd minute, a spell of pressure allowed Watford to push down the left wing and they put in a dangerous ball into the box, which was handled by Seri. From my angle, it looked like it touched his hand and the players did too. They all ran to Oliver Langford and circled him, but he was not convinced and we got away with one. We could get some enjoyment out of this half by shouting ‘hand ball’ every time the visitors made a pass.
We did have a few attacks and we were better at it, however, our crosses and passes were too powerful and we struggled to put it into a dangerous position. Coyle put in a shift today, like always, but his deliveries were poor and he did too much running with the ball. He needs to stick it in the first time and make sure the players in the box can do something with it. I guarantee we would score more goals if he could do this effectively.
Then in the final 10 minutes, when we should be fighting for another goal, we allowed them to have another chance at equalising. In the 84th minute, an aimless ball was played into our box, but Greaves did not deal with it. Ismalia Sarr tried to chip Darlow, but he made himself big and did enough to steer the ball off target. When I saw this, the ball was travelling very slowly and it looked like it was heading into the goal, so did the travelling fans.
Towards the end, it turned into a boxing match and the game became very scrappy. Unbelievably, Tufan’s penalty did enough to allow us to take all of the three points. But, on paper Watford should have taken all of the points. We had 44% possession compared with their 56%, they completed 502 passes (we completed 414) and they had eight more shots than us. Also, we only had one of our two shots on target.
How we came out of this game victorious is unfathomable and it could have been very bad for us if we did not do some high quality defending. Nonetheless, I will take the three points and we have now kept seven clean sheets out of eight at home, which is brilliant. Hopefully we can keep this run going for the last two games of the season.