Watford 1 Leicester City 2: No sting in the tale
Cast your mind back to that sun-drenched day in May 2013 and the moment when Anthony Knockaert followed up his saved penalty in the dying moments of our play-off semi-final at Vicarage Road.
If Knockaert had managed to squeeze the rebound underneath Manuel Almunia, everything would have been different.
Leicester City might still have lost at Wembley a week later and been consigned to the Championship again, as Watford were. But the hurt wouldn’t have been there, and even slight tilts to the course of events can send things in a completely different direction.
In time, Leicester would make up for Deeney Day, then more than make up for it, then consign it to the dustbin of history with a decade of unprecedented success - the pinnacle of which would forever associate the name of the club and the city with inconceivable sporting successes.
On the day that Girona and Bayer Leverkusen faced the behemoths of their respective leagues in pursuit of what is now known globally as “doing a Leicester” (even if only Girona can reasonably stake a claim to that crown - and they got pumped 4-0), the real Leicester City returned once more to Watford.
Deeney Day saw an extraordinary game but it was also just one of several remarkable matches we’ve witnessed at the same venue.
It’s been the scene of fine moments for many personal heroes - Muzzy Izzet propelling us into the play-offs in 1996, Knockaert’s revenge later in 2013, Riyad Mahrez whipping the ball into the net in front of a fevered away end to take us five points clear of Tottenham in 2016.
On the flipside, we can just reel off the names of John Joe O’Toole, Danny Graham, Molla Wague, Andre Gray, Craig Dawson: a litany of lost games and late heartbreak.
Whether stupendous or stupid, you tend to get some big emotions when you fight your way through the tight concourse and take your place amid the travelling Leicester City support at Vicarage Road. This game offered both in the space of eight second-half minutes.
Pain, trains and automobiles
Your trusty correspondent had been looking forward to the easiest away day of the season upon arrival at Northampton station when an earlier train decided to start “billowing smoke”, in the words of one passenger, leading to the cancellation of all services south. One return bus journey home and one traffic-jam-affected shuffle down the M1 later, kick-off was made.
The team news was intriguing - Ben Nelson chosen ahead of Conor Coady in Jannik Vestergaard’s absence, Dennis Praet brought into midfield and Kasey McAteer restored to the wing with Stephy Mavididi dropped to the bench, sitting alongside the exciting young attacker Will Alves.
One young Watford fan sitting next to the dugout had brought a piece of cardboard asking for the shirt of their Ivorian striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo. Barely a minute into the game, their chance arrived - Bayo having to hobble off after somehow injuring himself chasing down the first backpass of the day. Watford’s replacement was the giant but sloth-like Mileta Rajovic, arguably the worst player we’ve seen at the King Power this season.
Ten minutes in, a sweeping move that included a vital injection of pace off the right from Abdul Fatawu led to Dennis Praet cleverly turning his marker to win a clear-cut penalty. Patson Daka drove the ball low into the corner beyond former Leicester keeper Ben Hamer to give the visitors the lead.
It had been clear early on that Watford’s plan was to leave Mads Hermansen with the ball and not to press the goalkeeper even as he joined play further up the field. This was understandable at 0-0 but looked a bit strange at 0-1, the lack of urgency turning a potentially tricky away trip into something far more laidback from a Leicester perspective.
Watford had two shots in the first half, both from at least 35 yards. It was hardly lively at the other end either though, despite an obvious contrast in the two teams’ abilities. Daka and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall both shot wildly off target with Leicester’s only chances of a sleepy first 45. The solitary other event of note, which drew warm applause from the away end, was Daka’s superhuman defensive work deep inside his own half ten minutes before the break.
From the sublime to the ridiculous
Ten minutes after the break came the stupendous. In a neat encapsulation of recent debates, someone in the row behind me yelled “noooooo!” at the top of their voice as Dewsbury-Hall returned Hermansen’s pass backwards to Harry Winks on the edge of our penalty area. 9 seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net and Leicester had scored one of the goals of the season.
Winks was being pressed by 3 Watford players, at least 2 of whom should probably have been occupying the midfield area that was instead given over entirely to Ricardo Pereira.
He may not be the Championship’s top goalscorer, top assist-maker or the most highly-rated player on various stats apps but there’s surely a strong case Ricardo is the best player in this godforsaken league. He certainly looked it as he waltzed downfield, exchanged passes with Fatawu and passed the ball into the corner in front of the travelling Leicester fans.
It felt like another 5-0 could be on the cards if Watford pushed forward and left gaps, but that’s not what happened at all. In fact, Leicester had already started the half a little slowly and Ricardo’s goal was the exception to the rule. The home side subbed the early sub, the hapless Rajovic, after just an hour, one of three changes that helped bring a spark.
But really, that spark came from one of our own. Because Leicester conceded the most ridiculous goal of the season, fittingly, at Vicarage Road. Hermansen played a standard short pass to Winks, who was playing within himself a little after picking up a booking prior to half time.
Facing his own goal, Winks mishit a pass with his weaker foot intended to go wide to Wout Faes. Emmanuel Dennis, who had been on the pitch for two minutes, had actually bothered to press Hermansen and thus was faced with the simple task of turning round and stroking the ball into the corner of the net.
As far as ridiculous goals go, this was even worse than the previous title-holder, the Sammie Szmodics equaliser for Blackburn at Ewood Park. But you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. Leicester would surely regain control.
Three points closer
Again, that didn’t really happen though. Missing Mavididi as an outlet, Maresca’s side found themselves on the back foot for most of the rest of the game. While Watford struggled to create, there was always a lingering threat of an Ipswich-esque deflection or everybody-esque set piece.
When Mavididi was eventually introduced, he helped to close things out. Not a vintage performance all round. But it just goes to show how good this season has been so far when a fairly routine away win against a top-half team is greeted with a collective shrug of the shoulders from some.
That’s not how Enzo Maresca, his players or the away fans greeted the final whistle. Maresca celebrated his birthday with some fist pumps to the crowd while a relieved Winks looked particularly energised by the way the team held on for the three points.
After the game, Kasey McAteer’s performance bore the brunt of some fans’ frustrations online and, while he shouldn’t be criticised given he can always be relied upon for effort, it’s difficult to see him as anything more than a defensive winger. He’s no longer popping up in the right place to score when playing on the wing, as he did before his injury. There’s very little in the way of creativity or a burst of pace or trickery to beat his man. His stamina and workrate surely means his future is as a number eight.
So two more away games negotiated with maximum points. Two home games to come and the chance to pile pressure on the chasing pack.
There was a hum of anticipation among the visiting fans at Vicarage Road as Southampton went 2-0 and 3-2 down at home to Huddersfield, but they eventually recovered to win 5-3 and, although they face trickier fixtures in their next three, it’s hard to see where they’ll drop too many points. But for all the hype about Southampton, they drew 1-1 at Watford in December - conceding a 96th minute equaliser…
It was a good day all round for the club - the women’s team beat Birmingham 6-2 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals and the men’s under 18s won 4-3 at table-topping Tottenham with a hat-trick from Josh King.
As for your intrepid away day correspondent - well, he was stuck on the top floor of a multi-storey car park in Watford for around 90 minutes after the game and was then diverted off the M1 on the way home. So it’s been a long day, but he might just be reliving that Ricardo goal in his dreams tonight. These are the moments that make it all worthwhile.
