Saturday, 6th January
After a cup of tea, Joss and I cycled down Ebury Way in the drizzle of another Watford winter and got into the stadium to see this week’s (cup-tied) signings from League One Rotherham, Will Hoskins and Lee Williamson, introduced on the pitch before we take on League Two opposition. With 15 league and 1 cup goal for the Millers this season, striker Hoskins is just below Billy Sharp in the high scorers’ table and if he can get even a quarter of that total for Watford he’d be worth his share of the £1.2 million total fee. I’d told Joss that I’d only be happy with three goals or more and we are hoping that the debutant Moses Ashikodi can get his name on the score sheet. Boothroyd had left Ashley Young on the bench, perhaps adding a few pounds to his potential transfer value; apparently, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and 3 other premiership clubs have made bids. Will we be able to hold on to him?
We got to our wet seats but a glance around showed that there were many empty ones further back and out of the rain so we retreated a few rows, an example that was repeated over the next twenty minutes by tens of others as the rain got slightly harder. Stockport’s blue fans were enjoying it, loud and proud replete with flags but their “County” chant sounded like “Chelsea” to us. Although Stockport had a good first minute chance, our Biblically-named debutant had netted from a corner within seven minutes only for it to be disallowed. Another six minutes later and the 5’6” 10-stone Anthony McNamee had curled one into the goal but this was also ruled out, this time for a foul in the build-up. As the rain got harder, Joss suggested that “Maybe God hates Watford”.
Muddy Moses was already chasing everything and such hard work is bound to make you a crowd favourite: Curly and his mates, who’d moved to sit directly behind us, were wondering aloud about possible songs for him and the loudest voice in the Rookery (mine) was shouting encouragement. As we put on more pressure, County striker Poole broke forward, beat the offside trap and nutmegged Foster in the goal to put the visitors, 59 places below us in the league, 1-0 ahead. Cue “Premiership? You’re having a laugh” mockery from the away fans but we scored less than ten minutes later after Henderson flicked on a corner for Malkay Mckay to score with a very casual poke-in. Hot chocolate to celebrate and it was all even at the break.
Two minutes after the restart Henderson had got forward into a great position with the ball a tap-in away but somehow didn’t manage to get a shot off. The ball did get pushed out to Smith, though, who scored his second goal in 11 days. Both sides then missed good chances but after Young came on for Henderson there was little doubt we’d score more. Refreshments at half-time had provided the inspiration for Curly’s lot to come up with a song for Moses and a bunch of us at the front joined in as he continued working hard in chasing everything down. Our third came from a Jordan Stewart free-kick, which Mckay, injured in the process, met at the post in front of us. The rout was completed a few minutes later when a back-pass to the Country keeper resulted in a Paul Robinson moment: Spencer sliced at the ball, which he missed completely, and Moses, chasing it as ever, beat him to the loose ball, bundling it into the corner.
A yellow card followed his celebration: he headed straight for where his name had been shouted all game and in my efforts to help him mark the moment, I tripped over a step, taking Joss down with me. Lying on my back in the aisle, I could only feign serious injury and get carried away or laugh the embarrassment off. Joss, who’d been lamenting the fact that this game has no relevance to our Premiership struggle, accused me of being drunk. Maybe I was just a tad over-excited. Malkay obliged the chants with a wace after being substituted and we applauded the rest of the players off the pitch at full-time and began speculating about a possible knock-on effect in the league.
After we got back, with my socks on Kerry’s radiator to dry for a second Saturday in a row and the Liverpool v Arsenal match on the telly, I had a couple of games of chess with Joss on the set I gave him on Thursday. I taught him the rules last summer and he even got to take my queen in the first match. Perhaps more importantly, he has learned how to be a better loser (no sulking). Being a Watford fan, he has little choice.
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