Watford (h) 4-1

[Nottingham Fox]

Goals from Waghorn, Gallagher, Spearing & Vaughan.

Blackpool and Swansea both won.

 

[SwedeFox]

Anytime chaps.

Norwich promoted by the way.

 

[LCFCmonkey]

Norwich and Notts County promoted.

 

[Motown Fox]

Norwich promoted!!!
did it a year to the day since we did it

 

[LCFCmonkey]

Swede to start every match thread. All in favour, say "aye"!

 

[The Deacon]

Anytime chaps.

Norwich promoted by the way.

Thank you that man!!

 

[Motown Fox]

Anytime chaps.

Norwich promoted by the way.

Well done Swede I say you should do the Match thread for the rest of the season:icon_bigg

 

[LCFCmonkey]

Let's guarantee a trip to Wales at Deepdale.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

Boro losing 2-0 at WBA. Thats them out the race.

 

[Micky]

Just got in. Great result though I suppose it should be expected against poor opposition. Any stand out performers?

 

[beaumontfox]

tbh if you ignore Howard's sending off(Tsk!) I don't think you could fault anyone.

As usual Hobbs was superb, Morrison and Berner looked comfortable and Brown was actually PASSING the ball(yes he was!)
Spearing started to show he has some class, Wellens worked his socks off as did Waggy and before getting red carded, Howard was supporting Waggy superbly.
I also thought Vaughn and Kermit did well when they came on.

The only two I might have a slight criticism of would be King and Gallagher, only because King sat back and helped out the defence so had a pretty quiet game to how he has performed this season, and Gally didn't really get much of the ball to do owt(though his goal was bloody superb!)

As for the game itself, well I think Watford will look on the scoreline as being harsh, as they really weren't 3 goals worse than us, and made it an entertaining game which was end to end.

To talk about Howard's sending off means having to talk about the ref, who had an absolute shocker today, imo he didn't get any decision right, I don't think it was a penalty for us, I think they should've had one for a Berner handball, I thought the rules must've changed and we hadn't been told, cos some of the challenges going on around the pitch were certain free kicks in my eyes but the ref for the most part completely ignored them.

Howard will know he was a twat for going in for a challenge he really didn't need to. I actually think he won the ball, and I don't think he touched their player, but I also think the Watford players reaction to it helped change it from a yellow card to a red. I'm also fuming that one of the Watford players(number 3 I think, but can't tell from the photo as Wellens and Morrison have grabbed hold of him by then) wasn't at least a yellow card after he steamed in and kicked Howard whilst he was still on the floor. Perhaps it wasn't noticed by the lino looking straight at it as a fair few players had surrounded Howard by then.
Of course it makes you question why similar challenges by Vaughn was only deemed to be a yellow card later on, and by one of the Watford players wasn't even worthy of a free kick.

So Howard misses the last two games and likley a play off match, but FRyatt wil lbe back by then!:icon_lol:

 

[FryattFox]

Any stand out performers?

Not really.

A brief run-down of my thoughts:

Overall we were pretty useless for the first half and you would have thought they were at home. Looked comfortable from the goal onwards, and passed the ball around better with 10 men, until we tired in the last 20mins.

01 Weale 6 - one tidy save from memory and not a lot he could do for the goal. Not a very busy afternoon.
04 Morrison 6 - looked solid enough. Not much end product going forwards, but defended ok.
06 Brown 6.5 - won a few headers and wasn't troubled much by their strikers. Helped out by Hobbs a few times.
15 Berner 6.5 - Another solid performance - they didn't offer much but dealt with most of his stuff down the left. A few good runs creating space for Gallagher
25 Hobbs 7.5 - won his fair share of headers and made a lot of covering challenges and clearing up for the rest of the defence.
10 King 6.5 - quite anonymous, but tidied up well in the middle and played a simple game. The whole midfield were lacking in the first half leaving the defence under pressure, but worked hard in the 2nd half and restricted them to much despite only having 10 men.
19 Wellens 6.5 - same as King.
34 Spearing 7 - solid game - took his goal well and always found plenty of space on the wing. Covered plenty of ground in the 2nd half.
09 Howard 7.5/4 - 7.5 for the first 40mins, when I thought he was our best player; winning the ball, holding it up and bringing others into play. Silly challenge could have cost us dear though.
18 Waghorn 7 - worked hard and looked ok. If he had that extra yard of pace he could have been through on goal 4 or 5 times.
24 Gallagher 6.5 - decent half & great goal. Too dependent on his right foot to be fully effective on the left wing.

(Adams 58) 5 - didn't do anything of note.
(Kermorgant 65) 5 - not his type of game to be brought on for - chasing long balls. Quite ineffective.
(Vaughan 46) 7 - looked very useful - another decent finish for his goal but should have had 2. Won his fair share of headers and happy taking people on.

 

[beaumontfox]

18 Waghorn 7 - worked hard and looked ok. If he had that extra yard of pace he could have been through on goal 4 or 5 times.



(Kermorgant 65) 5 - not his type of game to be brought on for - chasing long balls. Quite ineffective.

Two things. You do know that when they train Waggy is the fastest of our players from a standing start?? Yes even quicker than Dyer(though if you were at Blackpool you might find that hard to believe after the run he did!)

And if you thought Kermit was ineffective you obviously missed that it was him who set up Vaughn for his goal or the headers he won or indeed the one glorious pass he did from one side of the pitch to the other for Vaughn(I think to) pick up.

 

[FryattFox]

Oh, and the ref was shit.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

I thought Spearing played really well today.

Hobbs was unbeatable as ever, fecking hell! Even when the lad is 10 yards behind his man he seems to win the headers.

 

[FryattFox]

Two things. You do know that when they train Waggy is the fastest of our players from a standing start?? Yes even quicker than Dyer(though if you were at Blackpool you might find that hard to believe after the run he did!)

And if you thought Kermit was ineffective you obviously missed that it was him who set up Vaughn for his goal or the headers he won or indeed the one glorious pass he did from one side of the pitch to the other for Vaughn(I think to) pick up.

I'm just saying that a few times in the first half the ball was played over the top and Waghorn was beaten to it. From where I was sat it looked like they were running equal distances each time, but I don't know if the Watford players were especially fast or not? I'm just saying that if he had an extra yard of pace he could have had a hattrick today.

And I didn't see Kerm win many headers tbh. Although his pass through to Vaughn was nice. I just thought he's not the kind of player to be chasing balls which were being hoofed out of defence, and I thought Howard, Waggy and Vaughn looked a lot better than him. I still think he's looks useful as a target man.

 

[Hazzman]

One point I would like to make is that was Morrison's worst game in City shirt. Really shaky, taken on by a 35 yo and was at fault for the goal.

I think BF summed up the Refs performance nicely. There was one point around the 42 minute where two players fell in a challenge and he didn't have a clue what to do...just gave a Watford fk.

Howard idiot. However, the ref was so far away, I am sure all 11 of the Watford players reacting to it and an away support in the midst of a battle with the coppers helped ensure the final verdict of the ref.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

There was one moment where a Watford player tipped the ball off basketball style right in front of the ref and he just ignored it.

 

[popillius]

....The only two I might have a slight criticism of would be King and Gallagher, only because King sat back and helped out the defence so had a pretty quiet game.... :

Yes I agree; a midfield player sitting back and helping out the defence after having a man sent off. What was he thinking! You're right - he should be criticised for this ineptitude forthwith!

 

[homer]

Strange old game, thanks to the worst ref I have ever seen - utterly incompetent in every way

First half an hour was theirs - we weren't in the game at all. Then a penalty that never was, a piece of brilliance and we're two up. Bizarre

Howard is an utter cock for what he did. Unforgivable behaviour and could have feck3ed up everything

Inspired move by Pearson to bring on Vaughan, and our second half performance was outstanding

Hobbs MoM by a country mile - Spearing and Wellens were excellent. Brown, Berner and Vaughan looked superb

Morrison was awful, by the way