The Saturday trip to Sheffield always had a question mark next to it due to it being scheduled for FA Cup fourth round day. The win against Chesterfield meant a reschedule and I was surprised that it was rearranged for the following week, meaning a midweek trip at very short notice. I arrived in Sheffield late afternoon, dumped my bag at the hotel and headed for the legendary Fat Cat. I have been going there for Wednesday games for over 20 years and, as soon as Wednesday won promotion I looked forward to returning. I heard Graham’s voice as soon as I entered the pub and Richard was at the bar, so all was well in my world. We ordered food as soon as the kitchen opened, not wanting to repeat the mistake of a few years ago when we forgot to eat! We were soon joined by the Happy Valleys and the North-West Horns.
We left plenty of time to get the tram to the ground. On arrival, I discovered that there was a slight problem, as one of our party thought that I would have their ticket, so had not actually bought a ticket for the game. This was resolved with a quick call to our lovely SLO, Chris, who made sure that we did all go to the ball. Our seats were in a remote part of the stand, and I had forgotten about the pillars in the ground, but our row was sparsely populated, so I found a great spot nearer the middle where I had an (almost) uninterrupted view of the game.
Team news was that Ismaël had made three changes from the Southampton cup game with Bachmann, Sierralta and Asprilla making way for Hamer, Livermore and Dele-Bashiru. So, the starting XI was Hamer; Lewis, Hoedt, Pollock, Andrews; Dele-Bashiru, Chakvetadze, Livermore; Martins, Bayo, Koné. Mattie Pollock retaining his place meant that he made his first league start for the Hornets.
I had noticed before the game that Rebecca Welch would be our referee and I was rather pleased to see a woman leading the teams out.
The Hornets started the game brightly with a good run from Martins, but his cross was turned over for a corner that came to nothing. The next chance came from a shot from Andrews that was easily claimed by Beadle in the Wednesday goal. A corner from Chakvetadze fell to Bayo in the middle but his shot was also gathered by Beadle. The first chance for the home side came after a quarter of an hour when a poor clearance from Lewis sparked a counterattack which finished with a great shot from Bannon that required an equally great save from Hamer to keep it out. From the resultant corner, Bannon crossed for Bernard whose header was high and wide.
The home side were on top at this stage and the next chance came following a corner, but the shot was so poor that it went out for a throw-in some distance from the corner flag. The next effort came after some head tennis in the Watford box that finished with a weak effort from Gassama that was easily claimed by Hamer. The first booking of the game went to Martins for a foul on Gassama. Martins then had a chance to repeat his heroics from Saturday with a low free kick that took a wicked deflection off the wall and almost sneaked in but the post intervened and Bayo was unable to reach the rebound to bundle it in. At the other end, a shot from distance by Bannon flew well over the bar. The next chance for the Hornets came from a Chakvetadze free kick that was moved on to Dele-Bashiru who shot wide of the target. The Hornets had a decent chance after a lovely run from Koné who found Bayo in the middle in prime position but, with a defender and the keeper closing in on him, he played a ball for Martins to run on to, he had an open goal to aim at but when he reached the ball he was at a tight angle and his effort flew behind the goal. It was a waste of a great opportunity. A good run from Martins was stopped by Famewo who was booked for his trouble. Johnson was then booked for another foul on Martins. The Watford free kick came to nothing, and the hosts launched a counterattack that was stopped by a brilliant tackle by Lewis. Wednesday had a great chance to go into the break with the lead as a shot from Ugbo came off the post, Musaba looked certain to bury the follow-up header, but Hamer did brilliantly to smother his effort. The Hornets had a chance of their own in time added on at the end of the half, but the effort from Andrews was well wide of the far post. So, the half time whistle went with the game goalless. It had generally been a poor half of football.
Each side made a change at the break. For the Hornets Asprilla replaced Martins, who was getting a little too worked up about some of the challenges and was on a yellow. For the home side Smith replaced Windass. The Hornets had the first chance of note in the second half with a shot from Koné that was just wide of the target. It went quiet for a while until the hour mark when there was a flurry of activity in the Wednesday box. A low cross from Chakvetadze was just too far in front of Bayo, it ran through to Asprilla whose shot was saved by the feet of Beadle, the ball came back to Chakvetadze again, this time Bayo just failed to connect with his cross. At the other end, the hosts thought that they had opened the scoring when Bernard met a free kick with a shot that appeared to have crossed the line, but the celebrations were curtailed as Hamer stopped it on the line and came away with the ball. The hosts made another change at this point bringing Cadamarteri on for Ugbo. The name of the substitute prompted some discussion in the away end. It couldn’t possibly be Danny, he must be ancient. Indeed, he is in his 40s, Bailey is his son. The next chance for the Hornets came after a Chakvetadze corner was played back to him but his effort was well over the bar.
With 17 minutes remaining, the Hornets made a double substitution as Bayo and Lewis made way for Rajović and Sema. King Ken was in action immediately as he received a pass from Asprilla and broke down the left before sending in a low cross for Rajović who was beaten to the ball by the keeper. The next booking of the game went to Pollock for impeding a break by Gassama. The home side threatened again as a Bannon free kick was headed over the bar by Smith when he should have hit the target. Then Gassama tried a shot from distance that was well wide of the far post. There were late substitutions for both teams as Porteous and Dennis replaced Pollock and Chakvetadze for the Hornets and Diaby came on for Bannan for Wednesday. A couple of minutes prior to his substitution, Pollock had fouled Johnson and was lucky not to see a second yellow, so Ismaël was erring on the side of caution in taking him off. The home side had a great chance for a winner in the last minute of normal time as Musaba unleashed a spectacular shot from distance, but Hamer flew to his left and got a hand to it to push it around the post. It was an excellent save. There was five minutes of added time that nobody really wanted. Livermore tried a less spectacular shot from distance that was well over the bar. There was one final substitution as Wilks replaced Musaba for the home side and he very nearly grabbed the winner with a shot that flew just wide of the far post. So, the whistle went for full time on a goalless draw.
While a point away from home should not be dismissed, it was disappointing not to have seen a more impressive performance against a poor Wednesday team. The Hornets may have hit the post and missed an open goal, but they didn’t test the young keeper and Hamer was the busier of the two. He pulled off a couple of excellent saves, so should be pleased to have kept a clean sheet, which was the first since mid-November. There were a lot of complaints about the pitch, which was in a terrible condition and made me think that maybe Gino should instal one dreadful pitch at the training ground for the lads to train on before games like this.
I thought that the referee had a good game. She mostly let the game flow and was unfussy, although she attracted the ire of the home crowd who wanted more decisions given their way when I thought that their players were going down rather too easily.
We got the tram back to Shalesmoor in time for last orders in the Fat Cat where there were smiles all around as we settled down in front of the fire. The game may have been poor, but the pub was an absolute joy.
Fran's Watford Blog 