The Hornets make the short trip to Queens Park Rangers on Sunday (January 14, 12pm KO) as they look to improve on consecutive draws in the Sky Bet Championship.
The two sides have played out some memorable fixtures in the past, with one match especially standing out for a very particular reason. We have taken a look at five of the best matches between the Hoops and the Golden Boys.
Watford 4-0 QPR - March 9, 1982
This Second Division match in the early 1980s pitted two of the greatest managers of that era against one another in the form of Graham Taylor and Terry Venables.
Known for their opposing styles of play, Venables was known to be critical of the Hornets’ style. The irony in that is the result when the two promotion-chasing sides met at Vicarage Road towards the business end of the 1981/82 season.
A signature attacking display from Taylor’s side saw goals from Les Taylor, Ross Jenkins and Luther Blissett, as well as an own goal, with the victory seeing the side close the gap to top-of-the-table Luton to four points.
QPR 1-2 Watford – February 20, 1999
Graham Taylor was back in the dugout almost 17 years later to face the Hoops again, with the Hornets once more chasing promotion to the top tier of English football as they made the short trip to Loftus Road.
A draw at home to Huddersfield in the previous game had left Watford’s occupation of the final play-off place at risk, with the side only two points clear of Wolves.
However, a much-changed line-up responded with a hard-fought 2-1 away victory thanks to goals from Nick Wright and Allan Smart, earning another three points that would prove invaluable as the Hornets returned to the Premier League.
QPR 1-2 Watford – April 22, 2006
There seems to be a theme in memorable Watford games against QPR taking place in promotion seasons.
This trend is very much continued by the next entry, with the Hornets making the journey to West London with just two games left of the 2005/06 season. The Hornets went into the fixture knowing a win would confirm play-off football and go a long way to securing third place.
Ashley Young drew the sides level before a George Santos own goal gave Watford all three points, guaranteeing the side an opportunity in the play-offs, which they certainly would go on to make the most of.
Watford 3-1 QPR – December 7, 2009
One of the most memorable matches for a certain era of Watford fans, one header in this game caused wild, if not unprepared, celebrations, t-shirts to be printed and a day named after it.
With the Hornets 1-0 down in the game, Don Cowie floated in a hopeful cross towards the far post, and the most unlikeliest of players threw himself towards the goal, and drew the Hornets level.
Lloyd Doyley, after 269 appearances in his eight-year career at the Hornets, shocked everyone in Vicarage Road by grabbing the equaliser, including himself as he had no idea how to celebrate and needed to be pointed in the right direction by Tom Cleverley.
Cowie and Cleverley completed a 3-1 victory.
Watford 4-0 QPR - August 5, 2023
The final match on this list is the most recent meeting between the two sides, in which the Hornets started the Valérien Ismaël reign in the perfect manner.
It took just 30 seconds of the 2023/24 season for Watford to grab their first goal, with Tom Dele-Bashiru slotting home to give the Hornets a very early lead.
Further first-half goals from Imrân Louza, Matheus Martins and Vakoun Bayo wrapped up a 4-0 victory, as the Golden Boys made a golden start under their new Head Coach.
