The legendary Pele once said “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”
The 1-0 victory over Bristol City was a slog.
Watford were never able to be at their free-flowing best, the visitors had more and better chances, the Robins enjoyed 60% of possession and the Hornets’ only shot on target all night won the game.
Isn’t that a lovely feeling?! Winning regardless of the situation?
Clearly we all want to be steamrollering visitors to Vicarage Road, and if Watford continue with their progress under Tom Cleverley then surely before too long someone is really going to cop it when they come to WD18.
But for a moment, let’s just savour that feeling of perhaps stealing a couple of points on a night when the Hornets were not at their best.
Think back to the second half of last season when a series of performances far worse than last night resulted in a sequence of draws and defeats which sucked the fun and enjoyment out of going to home games.
Look at a team like the mighty Manchester City, who would bite your hand off right now for a fortunate victory after a below-par performance.
And it wasn’t as if Watford were particularly bad either. They were up against a City side that has made a habit of frustrating teams on their own turf.
Before last night, the Robins had not lost an away game since September 14, a run of five games which had seen them with at both Middlesbrough and Norwich, and leave Preston with three points which we know from first-hand experience is far from a formality.
Liam Manning’s side played good football with confidence, and they largely negated the threat that Giorgi Chakvetadze and Kwadwo Baah provide.
They could easily have been ahead by half-time, and it was only down to a couple of top-class saves from Dan Bachmann that they weren’t.
The often unfairly pilloried keeper was a shade unlucky not to be named man of the match, and has now kept three consecutive clean sheets at home.
He was quick off his line and ‘stayed big’ to deny Nakhi Wells when he got free on the left of the area, and he followed that up with an excellent reaction save to keep out Luke McNally’s header.
On a night of fine margins, that save was every bit as important as a goal.
Watford didn’t create much at all, with Vakoun Bayo’s shot on the turn from the edge of the box being their best moment, an effort that was closer than it looked at first sight.
In the closing stages of the first half, Tom Cleverley appeared to change the way his team pressed, moving the midfield higher up the pitch to engage with City earlier and that had an effect either side of the interval.
The Hornets were far better in the second half without ever being quite at their cavalier best.
It’s something that all teams encounter and while it’s easy to say Watford were poor, you also have to flip the coin and say City were good.
Too often the ‘favourite’ in a game is said to have been off-colour simply because they didn’t win, rather than accepting that the ‘outsider’ might actually have done a very good job of preventing them from playing at their best.
How many times down the years have ‘little’ Watford beaten one of the big sides, and the media have focused on how poor Liverpool/Manchester United/Arsenal etc were, rather than giving the Hornets credit?
While last night wasn’t a defeat, it also wasn’t a rip-roaring victory – City’s performance and approach played a major part in that.
When the decisive goal came, it was as sweet a strike as we’ll see this season.
Having taken a touch to get Chakvetadze’s pass from out of his feet, Ryan Andrews then executed a pretty-much textbook shot – one for coaches of youngsters to share on YouTube.
Minimal back lift, knee over the ball and a smooth strike through the laces.
Andrews has done it before and given the way Watford use their wing-backs, he’ll doubtless get chances to do it again.
It was a pure, crisp, clean drive that fizzed across the grass with power and accuracy and deserved to win any game.
To see an Academy product deliver like that not only wins games and delights fans, it also offers inspiration to all the lads in the Under-21s and below.
The night before Charlie Daniels and Dan Gosling saw their side beat Everton 1-0 in the Premier League Cup, and today at London Colney young lads from that team will be training alongside Andrews who has, in the space of a couple of years, gone from playing in the Under-21s to securing a place in the first-team squad and winning a game in front of the home fans with a peach of a goal.
It’s all part of a bigger picture that is blossoming on and off the pitch under Cleverley and his very Watford-centric coaching staff which should offer encouragement to all of us who have endured several seasons of painful toil.
Indeed, since the return of Paul Robinson to the coaching staff, Watford have not conceded a goal at Vicarage Road.
He won’t take the credit for that, but it’s also far from a coincidence.
Having got in front, Watford looked more assured and able to protect their advantage without ever resorting to last-ditch defending.
There was one scare though, and it seems at the moment the Hornets are prone to the threat of a ‘worldy’ from someone on the opposition.
Last night it was Scott Twine and, thankfully, unlike Andre Gray at Plymouth this one stayed out – though the way his 25-yard effort dipped dramatically before hitting the bar meant it was as unstoppable.
The other piece of good fortune Watford enjoyed was that Francisco Sierralta wasn’t sent off.
Having already been booked, he was dicing with death when he conceded another foul outside the box just past the hour mark.
That probably wasn’t a yellow card offence, but when he quite clearly swept the ball away with his hand a minute or two later, it appears only the officials didn’t spot it.
It should have been a second yellow and first use of the shower gel for the Chile international, and Robins’ boss Manning was quite understandably frustrated after the game.
The haste with which James Morris was sent on indicated that the dug-out had seen what the officials had not.
The defensive unit looked solid and confident, and Ryan Porteous has clearly put the summer’s events behind him and is back to the player that first arrived from Hibs.
He seems to have removed the impetuous moments from his game, stays on his feet more and also has regained the belief to carry the ball or surge forward on an overlap.
An in-form and confident Porteous is, as we have seen, an asset. Hopefully a few more good displays like last night and Scotland will ease him back in for some international minutes.
Another player who has lost their place in the national team is Imran Louza.
The midfielder has not played for Morocco since June 2023, as not getting into the Watford side and a subsequent loan to relegated Lorient saw him slip out of the picture.
However, he has played the full 90 minutes of the last three Championship games and appears to be getting back to the form of a couple of seasons ago.
He certainly looks a totally different proposition to the player who wandered around with an air of disinterest when he turned out for the Under-21s a month ago.
His languid style can sometimes paint that picture, but in the last trio of games he has been at the heart of the team.
Last night he was the cool, calm head in an often-crowded midfield who demanded the ball, even in tight situations, and kept it simple when he had to while having the vision and ability to suddenly pick out a much longer and penetrative pass.
If Louza can sustain this form then not only does he stay in the Watford team, but his country will surely come calling again.
The Hornets now sit in fifth and will stay in the play-off places regardless of the outcome of tonight’s second batch of Championship fixtures.
Only leaders Sheffield United can match Watford’s home record, and the last time the Hornets began a season with more than 10 unbeaten league and cup games at Vicarage Road was in 1982/83, when they went on to finish second in the top-flight.
Yet Cleverley readily admits his side have a lot of improvement in them, and headroom to become better than they are now – and he’s right.
Away victories, turning dominance into chances and becoming more clinical in the final third are all on his list, no doubt.
But right now, it feels as exciting as it does unexpected to be able to win a game while not playing well and sit in the play-off places, only a few months after ending the previous woeful season six points and seven places above the relegation zone.
