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Watford
v West Bromwich Albion
Vicarage Road,
Watford. 25th January 2003, 3.00pm. |
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Probably the most abject
and dismal display that I've witnessed from an Albion side since
Megson arrived at the club. There was no quality, no fight, some
awful defending and only Lady Luck prevented this game from being
a very embarrassing defeat. Watford were by far the better side
and, as for the Albion, only Koumas, perhaps Dichio and, certainly,
the excellent Hoult can emerge with any credit.
The side was very much as expected. Roberts returned from suspension
to take his place alongside Dichio, and Wallwork replaced the injured
Balis at right wing-back following his creditable display at Leeds.
Hughes failed to make the bench although there was talk of him enjoying
a short holiday with his family to "sort his head out".
Watford looked the better side from the first whistle. Helguson
fired over the bar early on before a Dichio header and a Koumas
free kick failed to test Chamberlain. Jermain Pennant, on loan from
Arsenal, was a constant threat and probably the best player on the
field as he ran the Albion defence ragged all afternoon. He had
a shot blocked by Glichrist after he had ghosted past Johnson and
Clement before making a great chance for Tommy Smith on the half
hour.
Albion's only attempt on target in the entire game was a weak header
from Dichio when he was slightly off balance. Their best chance
of the first half was created by Koumas. He made a mazy run across
the front of the penalty area before setting up Dichio who could
only fire over.
Megson's half-time team talk had little effect as the Albion started
the second half in the same woeful manner that they had played the
first. Pennant set up Nielsen to hit the crossbar before some abject
defending lead to a Watford penalty. It was Pennant once again who
caused the problems as he ran onto a throughball. Gilchrist was
covering with Clement out of position (no surprise there) but, for
some unknown reason, Moore came across as well. Gilly sent him back
but as he ran into the area, all Moore succeeded in doing was colliding
with Tommy Smith as he ran onto Pennant's cross. Winter pointed
to the spot, but Cox's penalty was superbly saved by Hoult. We were
beginning to think we might get away with it.
Megson finally saw the light on how ineffective McInnes was being
and replaced him with Sigurdsson, with Gregan moving into the centre
of midfield. But, despite a long range effort from Gregan that went
well wide, the change had little effect. Hoult had to save smartly
from Vernazza before the home side eventually broke through.
Watford broke quickly and while Sigurdsson blocked an attempted
through ball, he only succeeded in passing it to Pennant who ran
at the defence before setting up HELGUSON to finish well.
Albion did then start to at least try a little harder with Koumas
coming close with a 20-yard effort and a Sigurdsson header cleared
off the line, but an equaliser was scarcely deserved.
Albion were booed off the field by the travelling hoards and deservedly
so. Let's hope that's got all the players' bad performances out
of the way for the rest of the season. If we'd played a half decent
Premiership side like that, we'd be looking at a five or six goal
rout.
RESULT - WATFORD 1 WEST BROMWICH
ALBION 0
Marks
Hoult - 7 - MOM. Great penalty save, but even he was not without
sin as his kicking was abysmal at times.
Wallwork - 5 - Back to his ineffective self.
Clement - 4 - All over the place.
Gregan - 5 - He's not a defender, but he didn't do much in midfield
either.
Moore - 4 - His worst game in an Albion shirt.
Gilchrist - 5 - Best of the original back three, but only because
someone had to be.
Koumas - 6 - Quiet first half, better in the second.
Johnson - 5 - Very average.
McInnes - 3 - Awful.
Dichio - 6 - Did OK with appalling service.
Roberts - 4 - May as well have been suspended.
Sigurdsson - 6 - Did OK.
Dobie - 5 - Did little more than Roberts.
A Chambers - 5 - Anonymous.
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Watford
(4-4-2):
Chamberlain; Ardley (Mahon 89), Cox, Gayle, Robinson; Pennant, Vernazza,
Hyde, Nielsen; Helguson (Noel-Williams 88), Smith. Subs not used:
Lee (GK), McNamee, Brown. |
West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Gregan, Moore (A Chambers 84), Gilchrist; Wallwork, McInnes
(Sigurdsson 58), Koumas, Johnson, Clement; Roberts (Dobie 68), Dichio.
Subs not used: Murphy (GK), Udeze.
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Scoring: Helguson (80)
1-0. Bookings: None. Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees)
Attendance: 16,975 |
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