WHEN you think back to Watford's play-off highlights in 1999 there's one man who was pivotal to that success and he's now playing his part in the current day set-up.

Alec Chamberlain was a great servant to the club during his playing days and he's now working with the stoppers at London Colney in his role as goalkeeper coach.

The ex-Colchester 'keeper was part of the promotion team in 1999 and also when the Hornets were promoted two years ago under the stewardship of Aidy Boothroyd.

First off, Chamberlain thinks back a few years ago to the games with Birmingham. He said: "We played the games the same way round as we are. I think it was a 12 or 1 o'clock kick-off against Birmingham in the sunshine at home.

"We won 1-0, we didn't play that great actually and we had a couple of scares but Michel Ngonge scored from a corner and Paul Robinson got sent off too.

"We took a slender lead to St Andrews and having watched the Bolton versus Ipswich game the night before, the Birmingham match was somewhat memorable for a few reasons!

"We got off to a terrible start by going 1-0 down, we were up against it most of the night to be honest and we had to defend for our lives before we went through on penalties. 

Celebrating success on the St Andrews' pitch

"They'd had David Holdsworth sent off but we were dogged and resilient and we had that belief about us that come-what-may we would go through."

Now working with Richard Lee, Mart Poom and Scott Loach in the first team squad his influence is still felt on the Hornets as he prepares Lee and company for their respective roles in the play-offs.

He added: "We've got a two-legged cup tie now that if we win we'll go through to Wembley and what a wonderful carrot that is for everybody.

"Form doesn't necessarily mean anything in these games it's about who can handle the pressure and take their chances."

Stick men... Chambo and Poom chat as he clings to the post

Chamberlain reflects upon the play-offs as the most exciting times of his playing days and he feels the tide is turning in Watford's direction with everything coming together at the right time.

He said: "It was amazing the difference from the rain to the sunshine this week, even with the grass at the training ground. Suddenly everything's just bloomed and hopefully that's the same with the side and now they're going to bloom.

"The games are there to be enjoyed. For me as an ex-player looking back they were the best times of my career. Now maybe I wouldn't be saying that if I hadn't won them, but it is up to the experienced players to settle everyone down."