Not sure what set me off on this- maybe wondering whether last Saturday and last night will prove to be pivotal in our season. Or maybe I was thinking about Chris Powell. But- I'm now thinking not just of matches or runs of matches, but moments within matches which seem somehow to define how the rest of the season is going to be for us. I can think of two which have stuck with me in recent years. Both negative- sorry, I'm finding it hard to think of any positive ones, probably because I'm a confirmed pessimist. Forty-eight years (bar one week) of following the 'Orns has done that to me, despite some- no, many- glorious moments. My first example occured at Goodison on the opening day of the 2006-7 season when Everton were granted an unwarranted penalty against us. Hence the Chris Powell connection. "Hello- this is the way it's going to be," I thought. Wrong end of the decisions. Even Francis's deflected goal at the end kind of confirmed we'd be living off scraps. Wasn't at the game but saw and felt all this via MOTD. My second happened in 2008 when we maintaining some sort of challenge on promotion. Stoke arrived at the Vic. 3rd v 1st in the league. We were giving them a hell of a game- then John Eustace was sent off. To me it was as though our balloon had been well and and truly burst. The team visibly sagged, the crowd likewise. The Vic itself seemed to shrink. From then on our season wilted. This is all very subjective- but I'd love to know if anyone else has moments like these to recall, where you feel so vividly that the rest of the season is clearly mapped out. Especially if anyone has positive moments they can recall- the sort of 'nothing can stop us now' moments.
I thought that when Eustace was sent off in that game we were finished... Another example was that goal against sherwood in the FA Cup final.. we had had it then. Or getting the away goal at swindon in the furphy years...... we knew we had sealed it then... Or Mooneys run of goals in that promotion push... These arent quite what you mean I know... However on Saturday when we came back and got the Pen. I said this was likely to be a season changer.... I think the 8-0 Sunderland will stick in my memory forever.... I remember travelling back to london on the train and everyone was in total shock... disbelief at what we had done..... we had arrived... But it was the 2-0 win first game over Everton when there goalie was wingeing about a decision ( how could thus upstart team be winning against the great Everton) and the watford supporters all laughed at him.... that the fairy tale season was set in place... I always remember that.....
I don't know about season changing, maybe it will turn out to be, but the pen on Saturday is certainly something that doesn't happen to us often. A) a pen B) a pen away from home C) a late pen away from home D) a late pen away from home that is scored and becomes the winning goal. I reckon that probably happens about every 10 years for us!
Yup- killer Hope so! Yes- and a total reverse of my one about Powell at Everton. We knew we could cause a few upsets then. Mind you, going back again to 2006-7, I remember thinking when Marlon lashed in that goal against West Ham that we could live with the Prem boys. Wrong! Maybe his injury was another season defining moment. Did it happen on the pitch? Don't think so, but can't remember.
Yes we had nothing of quality up front after that..... and we needed the goals to counter the ones we let in. I remeber the end of the season someone said that if we had had say 10 of his goals we would not have gone down....
For me, there were two moments in that match. The penalty incident you mention where the ref, Peter Walton, apparently couldn't differentiate between Powell's head and his hands - and one at the other end not long before that when he ruled in Everton's favour by waving away a clear handball in their penalty area. Those two incidents probably didn't just define our season, but the next few seasons by setting the apparent rule that 'Watford shall not be awarded penalty kicks, but will concede them with frustrating regularity for minor offences.' Going back further in time, my opposite defining moment is a 20 minute spell of the most exhilerating display of attacking football that I've ever witnessed - in 1982 when we absolutely destroyed our nearest promotion rivals Sheff Wed with a four goal, first half burst. It was straight after that that I just knew we were into the top division, nothing was going to stop us. We hadn't really been stuttering at that point, but Sheff Wed had the most impressive away record in the division and were right on our tails. The Rookery End had been given to their fans, much to everyone's annoyance, and was packed and extremely noisy - up until about the 20th minute. Never heard a peep from them for the rest of the game.
I'm not sure if this falls into the category of a season defining moment, but despite the collapse in 2007/08, Boothroyd was still fairly safe in his job until John Eustace apparently scored an own goal on Scott Loach's debut. And where is Aidy now?
Relatively new to this site but oldish (relatively) to the team - season defining if not era defining was when we lost 2 keepers to injury and only alternative was to play the wine waiter in goal for the semi-final against spurs. Always felt that was the moment when GT thought he had taken the team as far as he could with the resources available
Mooney's scoring runa dn Wright's overhead looper spring to my mind but I am 29 and can't go back further. Let's hope last night spings us on.
I used to work with his brother Gary & he also played in goal with similar tendancies That's by the by; but I could never understand why GT didn't play Sherwood with his fingers taped up and an injection or 2 - had to be better than playing a very low league semi-pro and affecting his future as well. Maybe Sherwood wouldn't play through the pain? Or GT just wouldn't consider it. This is the only unanswered question I have for that era. As for the Eustace sending off - I wrote to the the Referee's management complaining about the number of sending's off that Stiles had made against Watford over the recent years and got a reply. Certainly I believe he cost us promotion that year and even got Eustace a 5 game ban for an innocuous chalenge due to him reporting that he refused to leave the field in a timely manner which was rubbish.
Welcome HA8. Cliff Holton playing for Orient against us at Easter in the mid sixties. For one thing he should have been playing for us but he showed that our promotion aspirations were weak. He destroyed us. We finished third in the end. I agree with Yorkie about the Swindon game. Even missing a penalty didn't spoil that feeling.
Remember that too! Also recall that their fans smashed some cars on their way back home down Occupation Road.
The Wright goal- yes, Mex,but in a sense it crowned that season. I'm trying to think of moments in the autumn or the depths of winter when things turned for us or against us. So Mooney's scoring burst was vital and fantastic, but not a single moment. OK I'm being picky now.
I remember when I was reall young, a hazy memory, at home against god knows who (although I'll still have the programme tucked away at home in England somewhere) the ball fell to Jason Lee about three yards out. He slammed home a very memorable scuffed shin-roll flick. That moment defined him in my mind.
My season (and era) defining date is Saturday 5 May 1979. After dominating Div. 3 for most of 1978-79, Watford are stuttering towards the end of the season. It is GT's second season in charge and we are going for a second successive promotion. However we are 2-1 down with 20 minutes to go and, with Gillingham and Swindon right on our tails and poised to go above us with one match to go, things look as bleak as the South Yorkshire weather that day. Then, GT rouses the Horns to one last major effort - Jenkins equalises with a scuffed effort across the goal - much to the annoyance of the Wednesday hordes. With less than 12 minutes remaining we get a debatable penalty which infuriates the home crowd who tumble down the terracing to shout insults at Ian Bolton, lining up to take the penalty. He ignores them and blasts the ball into the net. We win 3-2 and a week later win 4-0 at home against Hull to seal our promotion to Div. 2 - just 1 point above Gillingham who finish 4th. The rest of GT's first reign is, of course, glorious history. I often wonder what might have happened if we had lost that game (as looked likely for most of it) and stayed down. Would we have been promoted in the following seasons (from a division notoriously difficult to get out of)? Would GT have stayed with the club or would, indeed, SEJ have stayed with the club if the grand plans to get to the top flight had faltered? Of course, we will never know. That last 20 minutes at Hillsborough constitute a season (and era) defining moment in my book.
