Tuesday 9 February: Watford Observer
First-half goals from Helguson and Taylor see off Bristol City
WATFORD maintained their impressive home form with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Bristol City at Vicarage Road tonight.
First-half goals from Heidar Helguson, with his eighth of the season, and Martin Taylor's first for the club put the Hornets firmly in the driving seat at the interval.
Although the visitors improved after an abject display in the opening half, with the exception of one fine save from Scott Loach they rarely looked like breaking through the Hornets' organised defensive ranks.
With Tom Cleverley still not fit to return, Malky Mackay made just the one change from Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Barnsley, with Danny Graham returning at the expense of Ross Jenkins.
The Hornets started well and had the first chance in the third minute when Martin Taylor headed a Don Cowie corner narrowly wide.
Louis Carey headed wide at the other end, but Watford were well on top in the early stages and their supremacy was deservedly rewarded in the 14th minute when Adrian Mariappa sent over a fine cross from the right and Helguson pulled off his man to score with a trademark header to make it 1-0.
Boosted by the goal, the Hornets continued to dominate and Henri Lansbury and Lloyd Doyley had efforts blocked before a deserved second arrived in the 34th minute.
Alvaro Saborlo became the second City player to be booked in three minutes for a crude challenge on Jay DeMerit and Lansbury struck the resultant free-kick precisely to the back post where Taylor stole in to guide home his first Hornets goal from a tight angle on the right side of the six-yard box.
City were abject in the opening period and it was no surprise that boss Gary Johnson made a double change at the restart, bringing on Marvin Elliott and Ivan Sproule for Saborlo and Jamie McAllister respectively.
And, but for fine save from Scott Loach, the visitors would have reduced the deficit six minutes after the restart when Liam Fontaine was left totally unmarked to connect with Lee Johnson's free-kick from the right, but the England Under-21 stopper superbly tipped his header over.
The visitors continued to try and force their way back into the contest, with Patrick Agyemang heading narrowly over, but the Hornets defending was largely calm and assured and they were able to see out the remainder of the game with few alarms.
Tuesday 9 February: Bristol Evening Post
Bristol City slump to defeat at WatfordCITY'S Championship play-off pretensions were rendered notional as they crashed to defeat at Vicarage Road.
Requiring victory to close the widening gap between themselves and the top six, the Robins instead suffered the kind of setback which suggests they could yet spend the remainder of the campaign scrambling to stay clear of the relegation battle rather than pursuing promotion to the Premier League.
If a meagre return of two wins in their last 17 games is not sufficient cause for concern, then a mounting casualty list will surely set alarm bells ringing ahead of testing fixtures against promotion hopefuls Sheffield United, Leicester City and West Brom during the next 11 days.
However, the absence of several first-team regulars offered only partial mitigation for a first-half display which effectively ceded the initiative and, with it, the points to a Watford side which needed no second invitation.
Out-muscled by robust opponents, City allowed Heidar Helguson and Martin Taylor the freedom of their penalty area to head the Hornets into a commanding lead they never looked like relinquishing.
Although manager Gary Johnson made changes at half-time and City proved more competitive thereafter, the damage had already been done.
City remain halfway in the Championship, but a recurring lack of firepower in the attacking third is now becoming a glaring problem and Johnson faces a mountainous task to restore confidence ahead of Saturday's daunting trip to Bramall Lane.
A late assault on the play-offs is still not beyond the realms of possibility, but a remarkable turnaround in fortunes is required if these fading Robins are to close the gap on the top six.
Victorious on their last two visits to Vicarage Road, City had good reason to feel confident ahead of a contest against opponents who had won only once in nine outings since mid-December.
But any thoughts of a repeat of last season's 4-2 triumph on this ground were quickly dispelled as the Hornets surged into a two-goal lead inside 34 minutes.
City's defence went missing when it mattered most to allow Watford to force their noses in front on 14 minutes, Don Cowie skipping past Jamie McAllister and picking out Helguson with a deep centre which the Icelandic international headed firmly past Dean Gerken.
Disjointed and unable to hold the ball up in the final third of the pitch, City came under increasing pressure and it was little surprise when they fell further behind 11 minutes before half time. Alvaro Saborio was booked for a crude challenge on John Eustace and on-loan Arsenal starlet Henri Lansbury floated the resultant free-kick towards the edge of the six yard box, where giant centre-back Martin Taylor rose unopposed to head in from close range.
And Danny Graham almost added a third when forcing himself in front of his marker to meet another Cowie cross with a first-time effort which flew over the cross bar with Gerken stranded as the Hornets continued to call the shots.
Although City were handicapped by the absence of Nicky Maynard, Danny Haynes and Jamal Campbell-Ryce, there was no excuse for their first-half no-show and manager Gary Johnson, having seen his side fail to muster a single on-target effort during the opening 45 minutes, had his work cut out at the break.
He responded in decisive fashion, withdrawing the ineffective Saborio and sending on midfield powerhouse Marvin Elliott and sacrificing McAllister for the pace and attacking threat of Northern Ireland winger Ivan Sproule in a quest to turn things around.
City almost pulled a goal back moments after the restart, Liam Fontaine meeting a Lee Johnson free-kick with a powerful header which forced Scott Loach into his first meaningful save of the contest.
Sproule's introduction provided the visitors with a welcome outlet on the right flank and the flying winger kept Loach busy with a series of crosses as City built up a head of steam for the first time. But despite concerted second-half pressure, they seldom threatened the goal they so desperately needed to reduce the arrears and make their opponents think twice.
More direct and forceful, it was Watford who continued to carve out the best openings and the impish Lansbury almost made the visitors pay for another mis-timed tackle when sending a curling free kick inches beyond the far post.
Forced to gamble, City committed men to attack during the closing stages, but lacked the cutting edge to trouble a Hornets defence which held out reasonably comfortably.
Wednesday 10 February: Daily Mirror
Watford 2-0 Bristol City: The Daily Mirror match report
ICE man Heidar Helguson fired up a freezing Vicarage Road to set-up a classy Watford victory over Bristol City.
The Icelandic striker on loan from QPR scored a bullet header to open the scoring before former Birmingham bad boy Martin Taylor made the result safe before half-time with a lovely volley from a tight angle.
The result means the Hornets leapfrog Gary Johnson's visitors and move up to 11th - just five points off play-off contention.
The Robins' miserable run continues and they have now won just once in their last 11 attempts as they continue to drift away from a top six finish themselves.
 |
|
Helguson's header smashes home for goal number one |
Watford have conceded just once in the three games Taylor has played since his move at the end of the January transfer window and boss Malky Mackay has been absolutely delighted with the central defender's impact.
Mackay said: "I think he's a very experienced central defender and he gets his head on a lot of things. He gets into the right areas.
"He wants to play regular first-team football at a decent level and there's no reason why he can't go on to play 150 games for us."
Watford dominated from the first whistle and City never got to grips with the sharp passing football produced by Mackay's side.
"I came here with three strikers but it didn't work out tonight," Robins manager Gary Johnson admitted. "We got bullied in the first-half and they were too clever for us.
"Everything is going against us at the moment - including our own players - I have got to look at that and see which players have enough quality for the Championship."
The hosts dominated from the start and took a deserved lead on 14 minutes when Helguson headed home his eighth of the campaign after a fine run and cross from Adrian Mariappa.
Twenty minutes later it was effectively game over when Taylor turned in Henri Lansbury's free-kick from close range via the post.
A furious Johnson made two changes at the break and City put up a better fight in the second-half, and Watford goalkeeper Scott Loach produced a fine save to keep out Liam Fontaine's header five minutes after the re-start.
But that was about as good as it got for the visitors, and so little did Tottenham target Loach have to do that he would have felt cold as anyone in the ground.
Without the injured Tom Cleverly, Watford produced a highly professional performance.
Wednesday 10 February: Daily Mirror
Watford 2 Bristol City 0: Impressive Hornets claim victory to keep play-off ambitions on track
 |
|
Martin Taylor opens his account for the Golden Boys |
WATFORD produced an excellent display of attacking football to get their play-off ambitions back on track with a confident 2-0 victory over fellow promotion-hopefuls Bristol City.
The Hornets dominated the first half and took a deserved early lead through QPR loanee Heidar Helguson who headed home an Adrian Mariappa cross.
Malky Mackay's men doubled their advantage before half-time when fellow loanee Martin Taylor snuck in behind Lewin Nyatanga to find the back of the net.
City boss Gary Johnson made four changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Coventry at the weekend with Lee Johnson, Cole Skuse, Alvaro Saborio and David Clarkson replacing Paul Hartley, Marvin Elliott, Evander Sno and top scorer Nicky Maynard.
Opposite number Mackay made just one change to the Hornets line-up after their defeat by Barnsley as Danny Graham came in for Ross Jenkins in an attacking role.
The home side started brightly and should have taken a second-minute lead when a Don Cowie inswinging corner found the unmarked Martin Taylor who headed just wide, before Henri Lansbury found Cowie who headed wide.
City tried to fight back the early onslaught when Clarkson found himself in acres of space to find Lewin Nyatanga who headed just wide of the post.
But it was Watford who took the lead in the 14th minute when Mariappa danced his way beyond Saborio to cross for on-loan Helguson to peel off his man to power a downward header beyond Dean Gerken.
Saborio should have made amends just three minutes later when he headed wide from a Bradley Orr pin-point cross, before Cole Skuse drilled an advantageous 35-yard shot narrowly over the bar.
The Hornets doubled their advantage in the 34th minute when Saborio fouled Jay DeMerit just outside the area, Lansbury's quickly-taken free-kick found Taylor, who managed to outmuscle the towering Nyatanga, to superbly volley home his first goal since joining on loan from Birmingham.
Helguson should have grabbed his second when he latched on to the end of a Graham cross-field ball only for him to head inches over the bar.
Robins boss Johnson made two changes at the break when Saborio replaced MarvinElliott and Jamie McAllister replaced Ivan Sproule.
City thought they had grabbed a goal back five minutes into the second half when Liam Fontaine brought a fantastic save from Scott Loach who superbly parried the defender's header to safety.
Openings were few and far between after the break for both sides with Orr and Sproule seeing tame efforts collected by Loach.
Watford could have extended their lead in the 75th minute when substitute Liam Henderson's thunderous strike was well defended to safety by Nyatanga.
Mackay's side continued to push for a third goal with Henderson again seeing an effort go narrowly wide late on.
