A trip to Stevenage in the first round of the League Cup. I had an easy journey to this one with a direct train from Finsbury Park. I left home ridiculously early and was in the pub by 4:45. I had expected people to start arriving by 5, but was on my own for an hour. I had forgotten, or maybe never noticed, how rough the pub was. On past visits, we have been able to sit outside, but the persistent rain meant that was not possible on this occasion. My only company for that hour was a gorgeous spaniel that came to play with me. I was eventually joined by friends from Women of Watford and City Orns, we had a joint block booking for this game.
By the time we left for the ground, the pub was jammed, and our party had found it difficult to get served for a last drink due to the lack of bar staff and the preference that seemed to be given to the locals. I felt smug at having had a head start which meant that I had had my share of beer. Even better was that the real ale was £2.40 a pint.
We headed for the away end and found a queue to get in. There were only three turnstiles, one of which was out of order and the other two were inefficient to say the least. But we were in with plenty of time to chat to Chris Hall and catch up with the rest of our party. As there had been no information about which shirt the lads would be wearing, I had all three in my bag. As it happened, we were in our home kit, so I pulled that over my fleece before kick-off.
The team news was rather surprising as Ismaël had only made the one change from Saturday with Hamer in goal in place of Bachmann. Hoedt took the armband. So, the starting line-up was Hamer; Morris, Hoedt, Porteous, Ngakia, Dele-Bashiru, Sierralta, Louza; Martins, Bayo, Sema.
It was another good start to the game, not quite as fast as on Saturday, but in the fifth minute Dele-Bashiru delivered a gorgeous free kick to the back post where Bayo powered it past Hegyi in the Stevenage goal. It was looking very bright at this point. There had also been a moment of connection between the fans as the Stevenage fans reacted to a song about our local rivals with “We all hate Luton.” They have history from when they were in the same division. The Hornets nearly caused themselves problems when Porteous played a dreadful back pass beyond Hamer, but he was able to intercept it just before it reached the goal line. The Hornets threatened again as Hamer released Martins who advanced into the box and hit a cross-cum-shot that was saved by Hegyi. The first 20 minutes or so of the game was decent for the Hornets on the pitch, but we had the distraction of a constant stream of latecomers due to the turnstile problems. Pete, Mike and Tony had left the pub at the same time as us but decided to have another drink before coming in, so missed the goal and the bright start that we had.
The first real chance for the home side came after 28 minutes as a pass from Martins hit MacDonald who controlled the ball and crossed for Pressley whose header was weak and straight at Hamer. The Watford keeper was then called on to make a challenging double save, first from a close range shot by Forster-Caskey, the loose ball was played to March whose follow-up was straight at Hamer. Watford were then forced into a substitution. Ngakia had taken a knock early in the game and had clearly not recovered, so was replaced by Andrews who was greeted with chants of “One of our own.” The Hornets threatened again after another break by Martins, Bayo dummied his cross which ran through to Louza whose shot was straight at Hegyi. The Hornets created another chance when a long pass from Hoedt found Bayo, he headed back to Louza, who returned the ball but, again, Hegyi was equal to the shot. The home side then won a free kick in a dangerous position, but Forster-Caskey’s delivery flew over the bar. The home side were on top at this point, so it was no surprise when they equalised. Hamer had blocked a close range shot from Pressley but, from the resultant corner, the ball fell to March at the back post, and he found the net with an audacious bicycle kick. It was poor defending from the Hornets. The home side had a half chance to take the lead before half time but the shot from Smith was blocked for a corner, so we went into half time level.
It was a disappointing half for the Hornets. They made an excellent start and were cruising for the first 20 minutes or so, but Stevenage were strong, playing a high press and didn’t give the Hornets any space which meant that they struggled to create anything. A draw seemed fair at this point in the game.
Stevenage made a change at the break bringing Louis Thompson on for Burns. The first chance of the second half went to the home side as a low free kick from MacDonald flew just wide of the far post. The first chance for the Hornets came soon after as Martins went on a tremendous run before finding Andrews who exchanged passes with Sema before hitting a cross that was blocked at the near post. From the resultant corner, Louza’s delivery was met by the head of Sierralta whose effort flew just wide of the target. Hoedt was then booked for something that I didn’t see after he was fouled by Pressley. Whatever happened, it enraged the home fans who booed him (which sounded like us chanting his name) and sang abuse at the “number 4” for the rest of the game. On the hour, Ismaël made a double substitution bringing Koné and Livermore on in place of Sema and Dele-Bashiru. The formation changed to 3-5-2 at this point with Sierralta in the middle of the 3 and Livermore playing in front of him.
There followed a couple of cautions. First Freeman was booked for a nasty foul on Hoedt. Then Kone’s first action of the game was to receive a caution for a foul on Smith. The next chance fell to Stevenage as Forster-Caskey capitalised on a mistake at the back and hit a shot that was deflected wide. The home side made two changes at this point replacing Freeman and Pressley with Ben Thompson and Roberts. The home side now had three men called Thompson on the field. Watford then had a chance to take the lead when Livermore played the ball out to Andrews whose shot was into the keeper’s midriff. Soon after Andrews started another good move, he found Porteous who crossed for Bayo who looked certain to score, but Hegyi put out a foot and managed to divert the shot over the bar. The Hornets were having a much better spell and had another chance to take the lead when Bayo chested the ball down to Louza whose shot was straight at the keeper. With 10 minutes to go, Ismaël made two more changes with Louza and Martins making way for Kayembe and the debut of Healey. The new boy nearly grabbed the winner in the last minute of normal time when he met a great cross from Morris with a downward header that was heading for the bottom corner, but Hegyi made another great save to keep it out. There was nine minutes of added time and the Hornets had one last chance to grab a winner when Andrews went on a run before playing the ball back to Morris, but his shot cleared the bar, so the game went to penalties.
The penalties were taken at the Stevenage end of the ground so from our position behind the goal at the other end, it was difficult to see what was happening. The first to step up was, rather surprisingly, Hoedt. He found the net with a very calm penalty prompting a chant of “Number 4, number 4” in the away end. Reid was the first up for Stevenage, his effort cleared the bar heading for Row Z. Sierralta was the next up for Watford, the keeper got a hand to his penalty but couldn’t keep it out. Next for Stevenage was Roberts who sent Hamer the wrong way and hit the top corner. Then Porteous stepped up and cleared the bar, a terrible effort. Forster-Caskey took the next spot kick, Hamer went the right way, but the shot evaded his dive. Healey hit his penalty straight down the middle and it was saved by the legs of Hegyi. Next up was MacDonald who sent Hamer the wrong way and found the net. Last up for the Hornets was Koné who sent the keeper the wrong way and finished calmly. But it was too little too late as Nathan Thompson stepped up and converted his penalty to send the Hornets out of the competition.
After the bright start on Saturday, this was a disappointing performance from the Hornets. The second half had been considerably better than the first and the change to three at the back sparked a very good spell during which Watford dominated and should have scored a winner. Stevenage keeper, Hegyi, was the difference, making two magnificent saves and saving Healey’s penalty. There were encouraging signs. Martins had another decent game creating some good chances. Both Morris and Andrews did well. Hamer was all right, but his distribution was appalling. But the takeaway from the game was that the Hornets still struggle when playing a physical team who give them no space. If they are going to do anything this season, they need to learn how to play such teams. If there is any positive from this defeat it is that it has highlighted a problem that we need to work on and it will allow us to concentrate on the league.
Fran's Watford Blog 