Hornet's sting somewhat blunted

With apologies for the lateness of my write up of the Watford game.  While there have been some excellent posts on the match and the use of the 3-5-2 formation I thought it would still be worthwhile posting a few of my pictures and sharing a few thoughts.

 

Good away support

It was my first away day of the season so I was as good as I could be at The Gun in Docklands on the Friday night at their IPA festival.  The range was fantastic and with over 30 ales on cask, keg and bottle, it was time to be selective.  I'd only tried three of the beers previously and so it was tempting to go overboard and suffer the consequences the next day, but travelling to football matches with a hazy head is not a good idea.





 I also had the pleasure of meeting up for the first time with fellow Addicks, bloggers and real ale lovers Hungry Ted and Marco Casual.  Hungry Ted has helped me tremendously with suggestions on improving my blog presence while I have Marco to thank for introducing me to some of Greenwich's finest ale houses so it was great to finally meet them and put a face to the names.  They also introduced me to the Rose of Denmark crowd who always make a strong appearance on away days, see see #rod and #rodontour on twitter for more information and look out for the flag!  I've been left going to games on my own after my brother emigrated to Australia so it was good to be in the company of some fellow supporters.

One thing that struck me though was the down right outbreak of cautious common sense amongst all the fans I met.  While we were all going to enjoy our away day, no one was wildly optimistic about the game and down to a man we were all willing to walk away with a nil-nil draw as a good result.

Watford Eyesore

I've been to Vicarage road more than any other away ground but in all this time they have maintained a shabby East side where an odd uncovered and unused section is followed by a cow shed much like the old North stand at Charlton.  This contrasts markedly with the rest of the stadium which is looking very smart these days.

The team played a solid game and although chances were few and far between there were also far fewer stray or wayward passes by the Addicks and I can't really be critical of any single Charlton performance.

After our penalty early in the second half it seemed like the game was permanently encamped in the Charlton's half.  So our 62% possession statistics surprised me somewhat and shows Powell's tactics focusing on team work patiently building up with the ball probing the opposition and looking for those chances. 

Otherwise a smart Stadium

Zola is slowly trying to mold his team and the rule change on foreign loan players will have helped by making many of them permanent fixtures in the squad.  Even so, certain continental tactics were still apparent in the game and Simon Church earned a yellow card as a result of his impatience with those actions by the Watford players.

The Watford manager was also critical of certain of his players for not playing for the team ( see www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24126465).



 

Bit Foggy at Vicarage Road

Yann's solid penalty

The silence of the Hornets crowd during the game (my local library would have been proud) and their resounding boos at the end of the game echoed our thoughts that they thought they should have done much better than the draw.

The vocals from our away support are fantastic and the ubiquitous away day flare made its usual appearance.  It makes for great scenes but while I don't think many people really minded I'll reserve the pyrotechnics for bonfire night.




Over a post match pint of Hobgoblin we all agreed that the point was thoroughly deserved against what should have been a much stronger opposition.  However, I know that the Championship is a tough league but we are not going to progress until we can go to places such as Vicarage Road with more confidence and the knowledge that we are capable of taking all three points and this is what we should be aiming for.





It will be interesting to see how we line up against Huddersfield tonight and who Powell will choose upfront to partner Church in Kermorgant's absence, and whether Chris Solly, one of our most consistent players will fit into that formation or not once he's recovered from his injury.