Lately I’ve been thinking of this match as one we can pick up points in because I see Watford as erratic underachievers and possibly more of a shambles of a club than we are. The trouble is, their win over Bristol City on Saturday (the only favour the wurzels have done us in recent weeks is to let us beat them), Watford are still, just about, in the Play Off hunt and so one of the more impressive teams to visit Cardiff City Stadium this season still have something to play for.
We’ll certainly need to cut out the individual errors that cost us on the weekend, but, as we get closer to a game I was quite optimistic about, I find myself thinking we’re going to lose again – if that happens, we’ll really need a win against a Stoke side which has gone off the boil lately on Saturday. A home match against a team with nothing to play for is the best fixture a relegation fighting side can hope for in the closing weeks of a season, but playing on our pitch has been putting the fear of God into City teams for three seasons now, so I’m a bit glass half emptyish at the moment I’m afraid.
Here’s seven questions on Watford with the answers to be posted on here on Thursday.
60s. Did this defender have to wrestle for his ale? (6,4)
70s. This defender’s Watford career was rather summed up by one of their match programmes which got his first name wrong – he made fifty plus league appearances for them, but always seemed to be more of a squad member in a side which struggled to establish themselves in the second tier. His encounters with City were typical of his time at the club with one start and two sub appearances and he was eventually loaned out to a club with a unique name not long before being released by Watford. Teamed up with three other members of Watford’s FA Cup Semi Final side from 69/70, he did much better at a lower level, eventually earning himself a testimonial against West Ham and an induction into the club’s Hall of Fame. Who am I describing?
80s. Born in a place in Derbyshire which sounds like a footballer from the nineteenth century, this utility player’s career seemed to prosper under the influence of Graham Taylor. Starting off with red Londoners in the sixties, he then had a brief spell at a bracing seaside location in the north before moving hundreds of miles south to another place with a beach. A loan move to a Cathedral city eventually became a permanent one and it was here that he seemed to move up another level before heading for Watford where, having been something of a lower league journeyman throughout his career, he was able to hold down a regular place in the second tier with them although he was unable to get a win in his two encounters with City. Now, at the veteran stage, there was one move for him to a club that also played in amber/yellow – he became assistant manager of this club after retiring and had a short spell as caretaker boss as well. Who is he?
90s. This midfielder with a surname which is unique in football in my experience was a regular starter in a non league side which played in the same colour shirts as Watford that came very close to pulling off an FA Cup shock at Ninian Park.. Amazingly, at the age of twenty six, his next move took him to a club in the top flight and he did well enough for them to win himself a place in the first team from time to time over the next four years. His next move was to Watford, but he barely featured for them in his two years at Vicarage Road and he was soon back in non football including a single game for the club he was with when the First Division came calling – who am I describing?
00s. Testament for Eddie Valiant?
10s. Male behaving masterfully maybe?
20s. What connects the number most associated with the sport of baseball and Watford FC during this decade?
Answers.
60s. Walter Lees.
70s. Mick Packer was loaned out to Crewe Alexandra shortly before being released by Watford in 1973. Packer spent the next decade at Colchester United making just short of three hundred and fifty league appearances for them.
80s. Born in Stanley Common, Dennis Booth played his early football for Charlton before a move to Blackpool and then Southend. Booth played under Graham Taylor at Lincoln and the future England manager took him to Watford when he took over there. Booth was transferred to Hull at the start of the 80/81 season and played on for five seasons for them.
90s. Steve Talboys scored for Gloucester City against City in the Second Round of the FA Cup in December 1989 – they were 2-0 up going into the final minute at Ninian Park before young sub Morrys Scott scored twice to earn a replay which we won 1-0. Talboys signed for Wimbledon in 1992 and played twenty six time for them in the First Division/Premier League, scoring once. Things didn’t go so well for Talboys at Watford, who were in the Third tier at this time, and he’d only played seven times for them when he left the club for Aldershot Town.
00s. Will Hoskins – Bob Hoskins played Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Dabbit.
10s. Tom Cleverley.
20s. There are nine players in a baseball team and there are nine innings’ per team in a baseball game – nine is also the number of managers/head coaches Watford have had so far during this decade.
