Despite having fire, flags, fireworks, light shows and a stupid drum on Monday, the Smogs still claimed we were taking it too seriously. We're only arsed about the three points though, thanks for that. Late on in the window we'd secured the services of a young scouser with a bad back. He'd be out for a couple weeks but we now had a few current players set to return from our injury list. Hopefully those familiar faces will solidify our squad.
Jobe was off sick with a bad leg, an important thing in football. So Samed stepped in again to provide support. He'd slightly improved during his appearance last week. So we'd hoped for more of the Same(d). Our lack of a press in the midfield had led to both goals in the week - even though one was when we switched off as Roberts had been fouled twice. A tough call to make by the ref so early on, but that's what you get paid for Steven. All that considered, you can't switch off against anyone. Something we sadly saw again this afternoon.
Our party trick this season had been excelling against teams around us and failing against struggling sides from the depths of the league. Party tricks are meant to be fun though, aren't they?
We kept the Hornets in their half in the opening five. Riggy chose not to take a touch and hit our first shot on target straight at the keeper. Our emphatic Frenchman, Le Fee, caused them problems again on the wing, causing early agitation to the men in yellow.
We failed to clear an easy ball and the resulting tackle by a frustrated Rigg gifted them a free kick. Then Wilson went on one of his adventures and immediately won us a free kick at the other, which ended with a corner. The same formula we'd seen on Teesside: high line + Wilson = goals. A brilliant deep ball from Enzo to Hume at the back post, who gently dabbed it back across goal to the man with the best headerer on the pitch, Luke O'9. One from the training ground. 1 nil to the red and whites. Gerrup.
Usually I'd use a cliché like ‘this woke up the away team up’. But our lads were clearly under strict instructions to try and get a quick second and we pressed hard. The first 25 had looked promising. Cleverly had been 'forced' to play a 19 year old 'to do the job of a man'. We've got plenty of those, mate. He held his own and promptly kicked Cirkin up in the air, earning him a card to match his strip. Cirkin then saw one too as he returned the favour on the same said teen. Samed had initially done much better. He'd sat off the ball more than Jobe would have, but so he seemed to pop up where we needed him… so far.
A big save came from Tony Patterson after a Watford header on goal, but Cirkin threw a reckless challenge on their teen resulting in the ref pointing at the spot. Unfairly, the Hornets were level. The six travelling fans did their best to make a peep. FFS, as the kids say. Plenty of time to take what was ours but if Dennis continued like that he wouldn't see the full 90.
Watford got their hands on the wheel and our lads, eyeing damage control before the break, sat back. We held them at bay in the away half but we were still giving them too much time on the ball. They broke and managed a shot on goal that was well blocked by Cirkin.
We went into the break on the back foot and I went for a grumpy half time sandwich. SAFC's socials seemed to be full of fans losing their minds in the comments. Just one minute into the second half proved they might have been right in their panic. The Hornets stung again and we slipped up. Louza hit a winner but three of our players just stood and looked at him as he did so. Sloppy. The visitors were now firmly ahead in the stats too.
They'd lost three out of their last five and only won twice in their last ten league games. We were behind on possession and pass accuracy. We'd made a meal out of the second half. An out of character double sub on 60 mins saw Samed and Roberts replaced by Milan Aleksic and Ian Poveda. I'd always prefer earlier subs but RLB has a doctorate in biomechanics and I'm just a daft lad from Bish.
We were now fighting for a draw at home, against one of the worst sides in the league, again. Reggie had talked about our adaptable formations within the games. We could do with switching up our system and being less standoffish against out of form sides like this. The excellent press earlier in the season has significantly dwindled.
With half an hour to go we needed to act fast if we wanted that third spot we'd been in for 30 mins. We simply can't afford to drop points against this kind of nonsense. Our unbeaten home status was recklessly under threat. Rigg had looked a little lost without Jobe, and was replaced by Eliezer Mayenda. Maybe that sub could have been slightly earlier? Late on we unfortunately squandered two excellent chances through on goal by Milan and Wilson. That being said, their keeper was later named man of the match.
With seconds on the clock Watford again decided they didn't want to move during one of our set pieces. It was a low corner from Enzo, Wilson got the deftest of flicks on it and Cirkin made up for his earlier errors with a cool finish beyond a static sack of defenders. The SoL remains a fortress by the skin of our teeth. We have a few issues to address by Luton Wednesday. We hadn't rescued a point, we'd lost two. I thought we'd missed Jobe today. Can we chalk this last-minute change to our dip in form? Nope. Just not good enough. Still 4th though.
Keep the faith,
GPD.
