Hoops lose again!!..............against Watford 3-0
Malky Mackay did his hopes of securing the Watford job on a permanent basis the power of good as the Hornets climbed out of the relegation zone with an impressive 3-0 victory over a completely out-of-sorts Queens Park Rangers at Vicarage Road this afternoon.
Tommy Smith set the ball rolling from the penalty spot, and by half-time the Hornets had a first league win in seven games in the bag thanks to further strikes from Darren Ward and Lee Williamson.
The goals apart though, the Hornets were clearly the better side in all departments against a Rangers side, who were woeful from start to finish, and their afternoon was summed up when Fitz Hall was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Will Hoskins.
The caretaker boss made two changes to the side that were beaten at Barnsley last time out, with Scott Loach returning after his injury lay-off at the expense of Richard Lee, while Ward came in for Leigh Bromby.
It was the home side that asked the first attacking question after 90 seconds, winning the first corner which Williamson played short to Smith, who chested it down into the path of Jobi McAnuff to send a shot from a tight angle on the right side of the area across the face of goal and wide.
Watford continued to make most of the early running and they carved out a decent opening in the eighth minute when McAnuff laid the ball to Smith inside the area, and he clipped a cross to the back post where Jon Harley headed down, but, unfortunately, straight at Radek Cerny.
The Hornets’ next opportunity came seven minutes later when, following another corner, McAnuff picked up the ball in the inside left channel around 30 yards out before feeding Williamson, who turned inside towards the edge of the area before shooting wide of Cerny’s right-hand post.
Another chance nearly arrived soon after when Tamas Priskin embarked on a mazy run from the right and beat two opponents before feeding Smith in the centre of the area, but he lost control at the key moment.
Still the opportunities kept coming the home side’s way, with a lovely cushioned lay-off from Smith giving Harley the opportunity to break forward in the 23rd minute and he, in turn, slid the ball through the Rangers backline for Williamson to run onto, but he shot straight at Cerny.
Loach was finally given something to do soon after when Hogan Ephraim chanced his arm from 20 yards, but in the 26th minute Watford’s pressure was rewarded when Smith coolly slotted home his eighth of the season from the penalty spot after referee Andy Penn was in no doubt that he had been shoved in the back by Damion Stewart.
One could have become two within 90 seconds when, following another short corner routine on the right, Williamson clipped a cross into the middle and Ward leapt well, but Cerny had no problems in dealing with the header.
Former Watford skipper Gavin Mahon became the first player to be booked in the 33rd minute for a late challenge on Harley and it was to prove a costly mistake.
Williamson was very unlucky not to score from the resultant free-kick 25 yards out, curling it over the wall and against the foot of Cerny’s right-hand post, but the ball only rebounded to the left side of the area where Harley struck it back into the middle and Ward joyously slammed in the first goal of his second spell at Vicarage Road to make it 2-0.
Within three minutes though, it should have been 2-1. After Harley had been booked for chopping down Mikele Leigertwood towards the left side of the area, Ephraim’s free-kick picked out the totally unmarked Blackstock at the far post, but he embarrassingly mis-hit the ball into the ground and wide of Loach’s left-hand post.
The game then assumed an end-to-end period, with Ross Jenkins heading a McAnuff cross from the left over the top, before Lloyd Doyley over-hit a pass back to Loach, but fortunately the ball went the right side of Loach’s right-hand upright from the home side’s perspective. Then, from the resultant corner, Blackstock headed down across the face of goal and wide.
But in the last minute of normal time at the end of the first-half the Hornets netted a third. Adrian Mariappa found Smith down the right and he showed terrific strength to get both away from Stewart and to the by-line before pulling the ball back for Williamson, whose low right-footed drive beat the dive of the unsighted Cerny.
Gareth Ainsworth, still in charge for this game despite the appointment of Paulo Sousa in mid-week, not surprisingly chose to make a change at the back, with Damiano Tommasi replacing Mahon.
But Rangers’ woes continued, with Emmenuel Jorge Ledesma picking up a deserved yellow card after 51 minutes for a pathetic piece of play acting for ridiculously claiming he had been elbowed after he had in fact fouled Harley.
Watford almost made it four from Williamson’s free-kick tight to the left by-line, for although Cerny punched the ball away from Priskin, it only reached as far as Jay DeMerit, who volleyed it back towards goal and watched as the ball was deflected through, but Cerny dived to his left to save.
Jorge Ledesma’s misery was then ended when he was replaced by Daniel Parejo, and soon after Stewart picked up the visitors’ third yellow card for a foul on Smith.
Ainsworth played his final hand after 61 minutes, replacing Blackstock with Samuel Di Carmine, but five minutes later Priskin came within a whisker of getting his name on the score-sheet, firing narrowly over the top from the edge of the area following a Smith lay-off.
The visitors did briefly come to life in the 73rd minute when Ephraim fired a snap-shot from the left side of the area at Loach, but the Hornets were soon back on the front foot with Williamson firing an audacious effort over from 25 yards.
Ephraim then fizzed another drive wide of the target, before Mackay made his first changes after 78 minutes, with McAnuff making way for Hoskins. And within two minutes of entering the fray the substitutes was chopped down by a late and high tackle by Hall, which the referee deemed was worthy of a straight red card.
John-Joe O’Toole then came on for Williamson, although Loach did have to get his knees dirty when Parejo tested him from distance.
Harley chanced his arm from 30 yards as the game entered stoppage-time, which they were able to see out with no alarm as they completed a very good afternoon’s work.
Watford: Loach; Mariappa, DeMerit, Ward, Doyley; McAnuff (Hoskins, 78), Williamson (O’Toole, 80), Jenkins, Harley; Smith; Priskin. Not used: Bromby, Lee and Robinson.
Queens Park Rangers: Cerny; Ramage, Hall, Stewart, Delaney; Jorge Ledesma (Parejo, 53), Mahon (Tommasi, 46), Leigertwood, Ephraim; Blackstock (Di Carmine, 61), Agyemang. Not used: Gorkss and Cole.
Bookings: Mahon for a foul on Harley after 33 mins; Harley for a foul on Leigertwood after 36 mins; Jorge Ledesma for simulation after 51 mins; Stewart for a foul on Smith after 56 mins; Hall sent off for a foul on Hoskins after 80 mins.
Attendance: 16, 201.
Referee: Andy Penn
