Off the bottom

Watford v Charlton Athletic

Saturday 3^rd March

I’ve given up on our Premiership status and also made a decision not to buy tickets for the FA Cup Quarter-Final being shown live at 6pm on SUNDAY, March 11^th. I told Joss yesterday when I phoned him to say I’d got tickets for the Spurs game. We will have managed fourteen in a row, which isn’t bad for a fair-weather-fan.

Cycle, train, cycle. Joss, predicting a defeat or a draw, let me in before I’d knocked and I played with Kasey and exchanged pleasantries with Trevor. Kerry and Phil were in bed. Pumped up Joss’ tyre and then Ebury Way-ed it. Joss managed, for the first time, to cycle the length of the long slope off Cardiff Road to the stadium, with me alongside. Lock up, queue, turnstile, programmes, seats, shout. There was stuff to get right behind from early in the game: we looked menacing. Gareth Williams started and was effective in moving the ball around and Tamas Priskin seemed sharp again, though fired a good early chance straight at their keeper.

Nevertheless, Hameur Bouazza had scored after quarter of an hour. Then Damien Francis, whose header from Priskin’s cross had been deflected into “Boozer’s” path for the first goal, got onto the end of a Tommy Smith pass for the second and we were laa-la-la-la-ing The Great Escape at 2-0 after twenty minutes. We rolled out all the usual: “Going down with the West Ham”, “That’s why you’re going down” and offered to sing a song for the visiting fans.

Boozer was on fine form and deservedly played the ninety minutes. His run from our half to the goal-line to cross deserved better than being missed by Priskin and Francis. It could have been three at the break but we had hot chocolate and felt okay. Off the bottom. Nineteenth is probably the highest we can finish, so lets celebrate it. Second-half chances for both sides came and went but our substitutions had a negative effect on the team’s performance and goals for the guys in black went in within minutes of each of the departures of Francis and Priskin for Johan Cavalli and Damien Francis respectively.

Again, the draw was greeted with boos by some elements of the Rookery and perhaps beyond. It is really unnecessary. Our performance today was relatively attractive and effective though we should not have sat back as we did. It does not warrant booing. Still, this period has been disappointing: two points from the three home games that included two “six-pointers”. Because West Ham don’t play Tottenham until tomorrow, we are off the bottom on goal difference for at least 24 hours.

We cycled back and practised Spanish and I took pics of Kasey on my phone, each of which appeared more out of focus than the last, before leaving after half and hour or so. Realised, in passing, that I should have played Joss at chess. I’ve already knocked over my king for the season.