Teams
Watford (4-4-2): Foster, Mariappa, Mackay, Shittu (DeMerit 33), Stewart, Smith, Bangura, Francis, Bouazza, Henderson, Hoskins (Powell 85). Subs Not Used: Lee, Priskin, Ashikodi.
Blackburn (4-4-2): Friedel, Emerton, Henchoz, Khizanishvili, McEveley, Bentley, Savage (Gallagher 57), Mokoena, Pedersen, Nonda, McCarthy (Derbyshire 69).
Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Peter, Nolan.
Booked: Stewart, Bouazza.
Ref: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire).
Attendance: 13,766
Match Report: Watford 2 (Emerton o.g. 11, DeMerit 70) – 1 Blackburn (McCarthy 45)
Watford produced a solid display to earn themselves their second Premiership win of the season. A winner by American Jay DeMerit in the 70th minute was enough to see off a lacklustre Blackburn performance. Before the game Watford were 10 points adrift of safety, and now are only 4 points adrift off their nearest rivals Charlton with a game in hand. Blackburn, enjoying a good run of late, had struggled against the lesser teams this season, and so Watford had some cause of optimism before the game. Watford fielding a young line-up, without the midfielder Ashley Young who had been sold to Aston Villa earlier in the day for £8m started brightly enough and seized the initiative on 12 minutes when Smith’s cross looped to the far post and, in trying to clear, Emerton only succeeded in beating Brad Friedel. That mistake aside, the visitors coped well with the barrage of high balls being pumped into their box. But they had created little themselves apart from an opening for McCarthy that the South African sliced over and a 30-yard effort from Bentley that fizzed wide.
It was largely uninspiring stuff – but out of nothing Bentley fashioned a superb equaliser just before half-time. He beat two men with a jinking run down the right wing before crossing for McCarthy to plant an unstoppable header into the net via the underside of the crossbar. Sadly for Mark Hughes’ men Bentley was about their only player looking remotely dangerous.
And at the other end the home side were growing in confidence with Adrian Mariappa testing Friedel from long range and Darius Henderson going close with a header. Shabani Nonda should have done better for Blackburn when the ball broke to him in the box but after Robbie Savage was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg off the challenge from Bangura Watford began to take full control. So it was no surprise when substitute DeMerit grabbed the winner with 20 minutes to go, stooping to send the ball into the far corner after good recovery work from Hamer Bouazza.
Blackburn at last attempted to up the ante but Watford were not about to let go of the points they had worked so hard to secure. Boothroyd was full of hope after the match, ‘There are fifteen games left and we`ve got to win a good percentage of those. Tonight, I hope and I believe it is a start, there were a lot of positives to come out of that. It`s a great atmosphere in the dressing room. We made hard work of it for sure but I still think we`re in there.` Hughes on the other hand was bemoaning his side`s lack of consistency, ‘Not good enough on the night. Credit to Watford they put us under pressure and got their rewards. Tonight we didn’t get to anywhere near the levels we want to achieve.`
Player Ratings
Ben Foster
Solid as ever
7
Adrian Mariappa
Looks a good prospect
7
Jordan Stewart (c)
One dimensional, some good crosses however
5
Malkay Mackay
Unworried
7
Danny Shittu
Limped off
5
Tommy Smith
Effective with ball
7
Hamer Bouazza
Inconsistent tonight
6
Damien Francis
Battled and chased
7
Al Bangura
Classy
8
Darius Henderson
Team player
8*
Will Hoskins
Nice touches
7
Jay DeMerit
A Match Winner!
8
Chris Powell
Not on for long enough
5
