First featured in last season’s matchday programme, Daily Mirror sports writer Mike Walters recalls some of the best individual displays he has witnessed the Hornets come up against…
Saving two penalties in a 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion seven years ago, Heurelho Gomes preserved the three points which all but guaranteed Watford’s Premier League safety.
Sprawling to his right from the first one, and then at full stretch to his left, Gomes kept out Saido Berahino’s twin spot-kicks at the Hawthorns in April 2016, and there was much rejoicing among the Hornets’ 2,500 travelling fans.
But 39 years earlier, the boot was on the other foot for Watford when a visiting goalkeeper saved two penalties. He may have cost the Golden Boys promotion, and he almost certainly cost manager Mike Keen his job.
Watford were unbeaten at home, and on the fringes of the scramble to get through the Fourth Division skylight despite their lousy away form, when Brentford came to Vicarage Road on Easter Saturday in 1977.
Had Dennis Bond and Alan Mayes converted the penalties awarded either side of the interval, it might have been a different story. But Bees keeper Len Bond denied them both, Brentford picked Watford’s pockets to win 1-0 in front of 9,382 fans, the Horns’ biggest crowd of the season, and Keen was toast.
To his eternal credit, despite being told he was being sacked before the game, Keen presided over nine-man Watford’s miraculous 2-0 win against Huddersfield seven days later after Tony Geidmintis and Mayes had been sent packing by a poor referee called Trevor Spencer. Keith Mercer scored both goals after both expulsions.
But the damage had been done a week earlier. Bond enjoyed one of those days where he simply wasn’t going to be beaten. If Watford weren’t chasing shadows that afternoon, the Brentford keeper cast a huge one over their season.
“If there was another game where I saved two penalties, I don’t remember it,” said Bond. “But I do recall that Vicarage Road was a happy hunting ground for us the following year as well. Watford had already gone up as champions, but we scored a late equaliser on a Tuesday night to draw 1-1 and clinch promotion.
“I remember getting to the ground early and when we walked out to have a look at the pitch before the game, we met Sir Elton John. As well as being a worldwide celebrity, he knows his football and we had a nice chat.”
Bond, now 69, would later reject a move to Chelsea (when England 1966 hero Sir Geoff Hurst was their manager) and instead sign for Exeter, where he became the goalkeeping coach as his playing career wound down.
One of his first ‘clients’ was Kevin Miller, a talented shot-stopper who would go on to become a two-time Player of the Season here at The Vic.
“There you go - I might have saved two penalties against Watford back in the day, but at least I paid them back indirectly by coaching Kevin when he was starting out,” laughed Bond. “What a fantastic keeper he turned out to be. I was so pleased for him when he made it to the Premier League with Crystal Palace.”
Strange but true: By transferring Tony Coton to Manchester City, David James to Liverpool and Miller to Palace, Watford became the first club to sell three goalkeepers for £1 million or more.
