Flying low

Watford v Sheffield United

Tuesday 28^th November

With no Joss again, I wasn’t as motivated to be loud as Boothroyd’s repeated requests (email, programme notes and A2 sheets of card on seats) should have had me but I was still shouting “Yellow Army” loud enough that the lads could hear before they came out. We in the rookery kept it going for a whole six minutes before our first collective silence. Not really, that good, is it? The number of planes and missiles the yellow card was transformed into before they hit the pitch, the stewards and other fans means you can bet that was the last time we’ll see that method of communication.

Our line-up lacked Young, Shittu and Bouazza and I am not sure why. Apart from their absence, the first half was noticeable for the number of United players that went down and stayed down. They even made an early substitution. No steel, this Sheffield lot. We bested the 50-minute first half and had a fair opportunity or two and a few corners but at half time it was 0-0. In the stand, Curly was back after a few game absence and being asked not to stand up again. The requester seemed belligerent but after he’d been shouted down by a few around him, been accused of being “Luton” and finally seen everyone get up to the inevitable “Stand up if you love Watford”, he backed (and stayed sitting) down.

It’s a game of two halves and the Blades were much sharper in the second. They hit the post twice and there was barely anything you’d call a shot in front of me. In the absence of real action, more planes were aimed at Kenny, their goalkeeper, who’s obviously been the subject of infidelity if the Curly-led songs and shouts were a pointer. If he didn’t know what “cuckold” meant before, he does now. In response to “If you’ve shagged Kenny’s missus, clap your hands” though, he did join in.

The clubs met nine and a half months ago at Brammal Lane (I was watching from the pub quiz I was going to on a Monday in Camden) but only our team was similar. Neil Warnock has chopped and changed and bought and bought. Midway through the half they brought on Danny Webber, an ex-Hornet goal-grabber and later we brought on centre-half Shittu up front. He made a powerful run forward, one of our better moves of the second half, and we serenaded him with “Super, super Dan, super, super Dan, Super, super Dan, Super Danny Shittu” but two minutes from the end the law of the ex-player asserted itself again as an offside Webber pounced on a save that came off the bar to head in. The opposing fans sang him the same song we used to and after Chris Powell got sent off another home “6-pointer” ended with me disappointed and fearful of our chances.

Before tonight we’d only lost to Man Utd at the Vic and it was feasible to believe that since our last home game saw us beat Middlesbrough, another three points were realistic. However, tonight saw us fail to pass the ball at all for long periods and ultimately, the result was a fair one. Charlton are bottom with 9 points, we have the same but better goal-difference. Above us Sheffield & Newcastle are united on 13 points with Blackburn on the same but with a game in hand on us and two on the Blades. You could be optimistic and say that there are only 13 points between us and sixth placed Arsenal (as many as from them to the top) but with more than a third of the season gone, we’ve got fewer than a quarter of the points we need for safety. After Sheffield United at home, it ain’t getting any easier.