Watford 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 (March 11, 2007)
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0 commentsWatford's end-of-season mini-revival which has seen them finally climb off of the bottom of the Premier League continued at Home Park as they stumbled into the next round of the FA Cup.
The Hornets have now reached the semi-finals for the second time in 4 years, a fantastic achievement for a small-town club with such limited resources. Their opponents will be the winners of the replay between Manchester United and Middlesborough.
Watford started the brighter of the two sides and created chances in an open and attack-minded start to the game. A corner in the twenty first minute was taken short by Tommy Smith to Steve Kabba. As the defence rushed to cover the expected cross, Hameur Bouazza was left unmarked on the edge of the area, an inch-perfect pass from Kabba saw the young Frenchman lash the ball into the roof of the net from 18 yards.
Last season the Hornets would've pushed on from this and not let up on their attack, it would've been the opening of floodgates with Young, Henderson and King all surging forward to put the game beyond doubt. But last year seems a very long time ago now, confidence destroyed by the losing habit that's been this seasons pattern at Vicarage Road. Watford sat back, desperate to hold on to the lead and see themselves through, the midfield were weak, Damien Francis and Gavin Mahon second to every ball and simply not good enough. A phenomenal performance from Danny Shittu, three truly world-class saves from England goalkeeper Ben Foster in the Watford goal and a host of crucial tackles from American Jay DeMerit somehow kept the home side at bay. It was 70 minutes of pure Plymouth pressure, and Watford were lucky to survive it - they'll have to be much, much better to make it to the final...
...unless Middlesborough get through
Date
March 11, 2007
