please log in to view this image WATFORD v NORWICH please log in to view this image Venue: Vicarage Road, Watford. Date: 21st February 2015 Time: 15.00 GMT Now I will admit that I don’t remember ever going to a game at Carrow Road, although I have driven past it more than once. Somehow it reminded me of the Vic. Slightly scruffy, placed in the wrong position if you were in hurry, but a good old fashioned football ground. Norwich of course was the second city in England in the 11th century, but that was a few years before the team was formed. Some of the similarities and connections between Norwich and Watford are quite unusual. In 1908 Norwich were playing in a disused chalk pit known as “The Nest” as opposed to Watford and their disused gravel pit. Originally the club’s nickname was “The Citizens” but the club owner who was a breeder of canaries dubbed his boys 'The Canaries' and changed their strip to yellow and green. In 1920 both clubs joined the Football league Division 3 and in their two games that first season Watford drew their game at Carrow Road and in the return fixture a week later won 2-0 at the Vic. The total attendance for the two matches was 13,000. At the start of the 1958-9 season Watford signed an inside right and a right winger from Norwich, Peter Gordan and John Gavin. Gavin had spent 10 seasons with the Canaries in two spells and was a prolific goal scorer. He only had one season with Watford before he was sold to Crystal Palace to help balance the books. Gordan spent a second season with Watford, but was confined to the reserves as the Holton era had begun. Another connection is Micky Walker who kept goal for Watford 159 times and later became the Norwich manager with success until he was lured away to Everton. please log in to view this image Beppe Sannino please log in to view this image Neil Adams Last August the two men above were pulling the strings, but both have gone. please log in to view this image Joel Ekstrand’s dismissal after just two minutes left Watford struggling against Norwich. The Swedish defender was shown a red card for an off the ball incident that left Nathan Redmond with a bloody nose. Teams last August: Norwich: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Turner, Garrido; Tettey (O'Neil 65), Johnson; Redmond, Hoolahan (Fer 73), Lafferty (Bennett 67); Grabban. Subs not used: Rudd, Loza, Josh Murphy, R Bennett. Watford: Gomes; Tamas, Ekstrand, Angella; Paredes, Abdi (Andrews 63), Tozser, McGugan (Dyer 45), Pudil; Deeney, Vydra (Forestieri 63). Subs not used: Bond, Munari, Ighalo, Hoban. Referee: Paul Tierney. Attendance: 26,375 (1,470). Goals from Bradley Johnson(32) Lewis Grabban(59) and Alexander Tettey(61) were too much for the Hornets ten men. Latest Watford Team News: Italian midfielder Gianni Munari is ready to return to action against Norwich City on Saturday after recovering from a foot injury. Sean Murray is the only player unavailable to head coach Slavisa Jokanovic as he continues his recovery from knee surgery. Norwich have new loan signing Graham Dorrans available to play against Watford. The Championship Top Six Middlesbrough 31 28 60 Bournemouth 31 33 59 Derby 31 30 59 Ipswich 31 19 57 Watford 31 26 56 Norwich 31 23 53 Wherever you are in the world, Enjoy the Game
Cheers for the thread OFH, some nice historical info there! We could do with a win here, to cement the top 5 a bit more. It´s very tight up there! # Team Pl W D L F A GD Pts 1 Middlesbrough 31 17 9 5 49 21 28 60 2 Bournemouth 31 17 8 6 65 32 33 59 3 Derby County 31 17 8 6 61 31 30 59 4 Ipswich Town 31 16 9 6 50 31 19 57 5 Watford 31 17 5 9 63 37 26 56 6 Norwich City 31 15 8 8 59 36 23 53 7 Brentford 31 16 4 11 46 42 4 52 8 Wolves 31 13 9 9 38 40 -2 48 I have never met a Canary with schizophrenia before!
Looking through the fixtures for the rest of the season suggests that it is going to be very tight. All the top teams have to play around four of the others before the run in. It will be better for either us to win this but I don't think it will be a disaster for the team that loses. I know that we don't draw but it wouldn't surprise me if this is a draw unless we have learnt how to deal with crosses. Joka seemed very unhappy about the goals we conceded against Bolton but I can't see him shoring up the defence at the expense of our attack. The one thing that does trouble me is his match planning, though. He only seems to get our tactics right at half time.
i think signing graham dorrans is a good signing for them . norwich always bring a large following i agree with nzhorn this one looks like a draw
Will be a tough and nervy game. - but I think we will hold them and carrying with our scoring. So a 2-0 home win for me. Nice one Frenchie
I'm going along for only my second game in 30 years . It would be very greedy to expect another 7 goals from Watford , a 3.2 win is my prediction . Looks like it could be a full house , is capacity now above the 20,000 mark ?
Hornetsfan1963 I really hope you have a great day out. I would be happy to accept your final score, although that does sound a bit like a nail biter. Capacity is currently given as 20,877, although I am not sure if that is an up to date figure. Should be a cracking atmosphere as Norwich have sold out their allocation.
I always think of a Norwich as a bogey team; haven't any statistical evidence for thinking this- just a feeling. Always remember a great goal by John Deehan some time in the eighties, scored from well outside the area, at the Rookery end. I was on the Vic Road terrace directly in line behind it; it curved like a banana and nearly burst the net.
I'm feeling positive about our chances of going up this season , we really need fear no one . We have quality in all positions , all the players are at or near their peak as far as age goes , the squad is a decent size , so bench is strong and we can absorb a few injuries / suspensions . Plenty of goal scorers . We even seem to have a decent manager who is instilling togetherness and fight ...not an easy task with such a multinational group of players . Ok , lady luck can play her part ( sendings off / injuries ) . But we have as a good a shout as anyone else of automatic promotion this year . The Pozzo's are doing a great job .
Having watched the highlights of your game with Bolton, I feel a little more optimistic that I would have, had I not seen it. If your defence play the same way, I think we will win, and could be another high scoring game. Tighten up at the back, and I think a draw could be on the cards.
Usually we think the 3 points are more important than the performance. However this one is different. We are (now) 4 points behind. As we have seen, we can catch anyone in 3 to 4 games.Although the win for us puts us 6 ahead of Naarwich, (and prob. safe for a play off place) and a loss means Naarwich have caught us, I think the message sent out by the result is MORE crucial. If we win, ALL the other top teams will know we are gunning for them. We have won 9 out of 12. If we win tomorrow, then the next 2 games look attractive - ok tough but after last week we can certainly tough it out - which could make 12 out of 15. That will rattle anyone's cage. That's autp promotion form! If we lose, then well the top teams we still have to play ( Boro,Derby,Ipswich and even wolves) will know we aren't so good against top third teams even when having a good streak. (I think a draw will suit us more than Naarwich.)
I've been looking forward to this one since the away match at the beginning of the season. Revenge is the one thing on my mind. I really hope that Norwich have a key defender sent off for absolutely no reason whatsoever in the first minute - when I say no reason I mean after all of our players have surrounded the ref and insisted on the sending off. Then I hope that we go on to score 3 or 4 to nil and finally that there is a poor sod of a Norwich fan out there who intends to spend a week in the harmonious countryside of Hertfordshire with his wife and 10 year old son who will insist on wearing his new Norwich shirt everywhere and repeating everything his father said about the ref, the Watford player who dived and that the only reason Watford won because they are all cheats. That then would be justice. Failing that I still think we'll win and win well.
It's about time you nailed your colours to the mast Dave ! Great thread this OFH and if any of you guys wish to post on ours you're most welcome http://www.not606.com/threads/watford-v-norwich-city.292664/#post-7633659 ............and Golden Gordon you're right to consider us as a 'bogey team', check out the match history on my thread
