It was all yellow...

I may have been at South America´s largest market (Otavalo, Ecuador) but despite the multi-hued blankets, belts, bags, bracelets and bowls, my mind was focussed on just one colour. 

In three weeks, Watford have lost two six-pointers (at Hillsborough and home to Palace) and drawn our other three games: two home points against Boro and Brom, one brought back from Deepdale. Three points in five is relegation form so today´s Vic victory against second-bottom Plymouth only brings temporary relief (whilst sealing Argyle´s fate). Our three main companions in the fight against ending twenty-second in the Championship (the two mentioned first, and Scunthorpe) all lost today. QPR, by beating Palace, are now probably safe on 51 points, barring some significant form-breaking results.

The bottom looks like this:

Team	Pld	GD	Pts	Fixtures
Watford	42	-10	48	QPR (a) Leicester (a) Reading (h) Coventry (a)
Scunthorpe	42	-24	47	Bristol C (h) Reading (h) Donc  (a) Forest (h)
Crystal Palace	43	-3	46	Derby (a) West Brom (h) Sheffield Wed (a)
Sheffield Wed	43	-19	45	Sheffield United (h) Cardiff (a) Palace (h)
Plymouth	43	-19	41
Peterborough	43	-28	31

Watford have three away games in their final four matches while Scunthorpe have three home ones out of four. Cystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday each only have three matches left, with Palace travelling twice and Wednesday once. Palace are only where they are because of a 10-point administration deduction but it is already clear that the final relegation position will only be decided on the final day, when they travel to Sheffield. I am not going to make a prediction. I just hope my fingernails hold out. How do the words go? “For you I bleed myself dry”...

Bariloche

Yesterday we went looking for a short-term let (33 days) in Bariloche, in Argentina´s Lake District, where Jun will take formal Spanish lessons and I will study less formally (at first at least). We found a beautiful little place with a view of the lake (Lago Nahuel Huapi) and are paying the equivalent of half of a hotel´s price. The town (of 100,000 or so) is managable and we went to a cool bar last night called "The Map Room", with loads of framed maps (go figure) on the wall. It was an eclectic selection that deserves further perusal. There are also a healthy number of microbreweries in town that merit taste-testing. Finally, I hope to do some paragliding if the cost is not prohibitive.
On England´s south coast, Watford lost 2-1 at Plymouth (Tommy Smith scored again) and despite their recent run, will drop back to nineteenth as Argyle and Nottingham Forest rise above them (though each has played two more games). We go to bottom club Charlton on Saturday (who lost at home to Doncaster today, how times have changed) and host Forest a week today. Seems there is plenty of opportunity for teams to save themselves, though the Addicks seem doomed, nine points off second-bottom and eleven from safety.

The stink

Watford v Plymouth Argyle
Tuesday 17th September

Within a few minutes of our slightly late arrival – and as three stewards strolled to their seated positions in front of us – the stench of rotting garbage wafted into the Rookery. It was not that, however, which kept the 13,000 fans quiet, but the rubbish being played out on the pitch. The Horns were uninspired and Plymouth, bottom of the table without a win, were able to pass better and move faster. On the half-hour, they put together a fine combination that culminated in a curling shot inside Mart Poom’s post in front of us and the team went off to boos at half-time.
Despite the intermittent recurrence of the pong, the Yellow Army was in better voice in the second half but not for the first time this season, the response team’s heavy-handedness with the standing fans at the back of the stand led to chants of “stand up if you hate stewards”. On the pitch, our captain Jay Demerit had his hands above his head as the ball was crossed into the area and from the resultant penalty Argyle scored their second away goal of the night and season.
Two-nil down the team stepped up a gear and Tommy Smith had a cross-shot converted by John Joe O’Toole to put us in with a hope. Meanwhile, Joss was warned by the leader of the fluorescent jackets that he’d made two obscene hand gestures and one more and he’d walk. I called him a naughty boy. Then the same guy and several of his henchmen came to cause trouble with the cheer-leading Liam (Curly) I have mentioned several times before and none of us could follow the game as we protested their over-reaction. The game finished with a 2-1 defeat but it was the misuse of authority - rather than the result or the inexplicable reek - which stank.

Easter break

Plymouth Argyle v Watford

Saturday 22^nd March

Rod drove Air, Jun and I to Bristol Thursday night and after bed during breakfast Friday we chatted with a nice little old lady about places to go before she told us that if she were our age she’d get out and that white people would soon be in a museum. “We’re contributing,” I offered, but she was oblivious. We stopped for Cheddar Gorge and England's smallest city, Wells, but on the road along the North Devon coast we headed straight through Dunster, which she’d recommended (“Probably an Aryan museum there” Rod guessed), and in fact didn’t really stop again until the cold, grey, windy Bude beach, where surfers were pretending their experience was comparable to Hawaii.

Before we got to the match we visited Eden and came away less than impressed. A few pretty pictures of flowers are not worth £16/head especially when you’re sweating too much to read the signage. Parked in the stadium car park and took our seats for our third of four consecutive “big” games. Collins John started with Doris and had the best chance of the first twenty minutes but Jermaine “have a nice” Easter scored first and we had to wait about 200 seconds for Lee Williamson to curl in a free-kick to get the draw we played like we’d be happy with despite dominating possession.

In the second half they had Peter Halmosi sent-off with a second yellow but not before confrontation between their fans and our players ( Jordan Stewart and Mart Poom seemed to be in the thick of it) after our physio had squirted water on to Halmosi as he lay on the turf following the tackle that saw him dismissed. They made substitutions that counted, one of whom was called Lilian and the otherwise quiet bunch around me joined in with my “Lily, Lily, blow us a kiss” chant but it was the back rows’ “Do you speak English?” and “You’re Welsh and you know you are” that I liked. Plymouth having ten men livened things up but not so much that they actually got that interesting. Easter placed the ball well into the net but was offside and Danny Shittu had a trademark header cleared off the line so maybe another draw was fair. Bringing on Nathan Ellington for John hardly seemed inspired and after Doris got a yellow, meaning suspension, we could have done with giving Steve Kabba a run-out.

We stayed Saturday night in Looe on the recommendation of a mate and were impressed by the fishing-for-tourists village. I got up early to take pictures and had cause to regret not bring my camera’s battery charger. We got to the Mount of Saint Michael before pushing back to Exeter for the night. The trip was rounded off on Monday by a visit to the Cotswolds and I had seen more of England in a few days than ever in one go.

Bang, bang, bang

Watford v Plymouth Argyle

Saturday 15^th December

Today’s Guardian Weekend featured “the first celebrity asylum-seeker” and there were Al Bangura chants even outside the stadium; inside, each Rookery seat had a picture of the Sierra Leonean for us to hold up at half-time. With Lionel Ainsworth (on loan from Hereford) making his first start, Matt Jackson his second league start and Tamas Priskin in for Darius Henderson again, this was a different team from the last outing at the Vic.

Ainsworth was quality today, running at defenders like Adam Johnson was so recently in a yellow shirt (though some of his crosses could’ve been better) but Jackson was off the pace and Priskin ineffective. On top of that, Marlon was no “King of Vicarage Road” today, seeming to be unwilling to move for any ball that wasn’t played to his feet.

Truth is, the naysayers on the Watford Observer site seem to be more accurate than my “glass half full” outlook but it won’t stop me arguing about the merits of “supporting” the team. We lost at the death again today. But for our man of the match, goalkeeper Richard Lee, we would have gone down earlier. It was another fair result and after four home defeats in five games, we are finally off the top.