This was another disappointing result and after again creating enough chances our finishing was either off target or weak. Andrews came on as sub and showed us how to do it.
BEFORE
As we near the end of another season I'm afraid I'm finding it rather hard to summon much enthusiasm for this afternoon's game. Still, once that whistle is blown no doubt I'll get back into it. I think our players’ heads were already on the beach last Saturday so I hope some fighting spirit has been drilled into them since then. There's been a cloud hanging over me since I heard of Charlie's death and though it was inevitable, it feels like a big chunk has gone missing from the fabric of our club. I met Charlie twice and saw him play many times at Roker Park. He was there at my first match in late 1962 and I also saw him nearly come on as a sub for Bolton in 1970 as the Fulwell End loudly chanted his name. If Charlie's head was ever on the beach, it would have been more of a D Day beach on which he battled to win. Anyway, apparently there are no injuries after last week's match and perhaps we'll see a few of the younger players being given a run out at some stage of today's game. I won't be there so it'll have to be SAFSEE for me again. Match prediction: 1-1.
I didn’t get the team-news till around 2.30 and saw that Hume and Aouchiche were in for Pembele and Dack. Roberts and Ba were among the subs and I hoped to see them both on later. I thought Ba did well when he came on last week. Watson was also on the bench and though I don’t know much about him, many others are singing his praises.
THE MATCH
I got SAFSEE on and heard that the teams had come out to the strains of ‘Z Cars’ which, for younger readers, was the song always played when the teams emerged at Roker Park in the 1960’s. In the opening stages Watford had us pressed back but we soon began a few forays of our own. Watford’s front three of Bayo, Asprilla and Dennis sounded like they had plenty of pace and were sure to cause us a few problems. We were defending well but not venturing forth much. Commentator Benno compared things to the West Brom match a fortnight back where we were on the receiving end for much of the first half. Just before we entered the second quarter we were awarded a free-kick in a good position that resulted in a good header from Ballard and then the first corner of the game, to us. I could hear, “Red and White Army” blasting our from our two thousand fans. The corner came to nothing but we were putting some flowing moves together.
We soon won another corner as, “Shearer is a Wanker” came across loud and clear. Hume had to receive some treatment but was able to continue after a few minutes. O’Nien and Hume were putting in some great tackles at the back and our overall performance was sounding decent. It remained goalless as we passed the half-hour mark. Commentator Barnesy said that Watford hadn’t won at home since November and I liked the sound of that. We were sometimes playing it dangerously at the back but we managed to escape the lurking Bayo on a couple of occasions. We’d barely had any shots worthy of the name so far and with about five minutes to the break referee Oliver Langford had a word with Patto about timewasting. Next thing Watford won their first corner but a resultant shot was well blocked by Alese and then we broke quickly. Aouchiche put in a great cross for Rigg and with the noise of the crowd I thought that he’d scored but he’d narrowly missed. Two minutes were added and we won another corner but it remained 0-0 at the break. After being pinned back in the early stages we’d played our way back into the game.
There were no changes for us as we kicked off again but Watford had made a couple. Aouchiche had done well upfront so far and he was haring away from the off. Three minutes in, Clarke had a great opportunity to score but his shot went wide of the post and not long afterwards he forced a save out of Bachmann in goal. At the other end Patto produced a great save to deny Kayeme so things were livening up. Apparently some of our fans were playing with a beach ball that the stewards were trying to get off them so maybe they weren’t finding the game too enthralling. O’Nien was yellow carded for a deliberate handball but it stopped a serious break from Watford and their players were not best pleased. The free-kick led to Watford’s second corner and fortunately it was like most of our corners and we breathed again. Ba and Roberts were warming up as the hour-mark passed but before they could come on sub Andrews had put Watford ahead with a shot into the bottom left hand corner in the sixty-fourth minute. Ba and Roberts promptly replaced Rigg and Aouchiche.
Ba should have passed to the unmarked Clarke but he opted to shoot straight at Bachmann. Just after that Ba shot weakly when he would have done better to blast it. It sounded like Hemir was about to come on and I can’t say that filled me with joy. I could hear, “Charlie, Charlie, Charlie Huuuuuuurley!” coming over with around fifteen minutes on the clock. Then Hemir and Evans replaced Alese and Ekwah and Barnesy said Styles’s face was a picture as he was instructed to play at left back. Ba was pushed over but ref Langford wasn’t having it and with just five minutes or so to go things weren’t looking too good. Watford put a picture of Charlie on the screen and that at least earned some applause. In the dying minutes Hemir and Styles had chances but things didn’t go our way. Four minutes of added time were announced during which Styles hurt his back and thus more time was added. Ballard was playing upfront but we couldn’t get that equaliser and it ended in a 1-0 defeat.
