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Watford 3-1 Ipswich Town: Match Report
Watford’s excellent home record under Beppe Sannino continued as they dismissed a buoyant Ipswich Town with a 3-1 scoreline and sparked talks of a promotion push from the Hornets whilst damaging the visitor’s own hopes of a play-off place.
A beautiful day in Hertfordshire was made all the sunnier for the tenants of Vicarage Road when Albert Riera brilliantly picked out the far corner to open the scoring. Crystal Palace loanee Anthony Wordsworth equalized for the Tractor Boys just after the interval but two quick fire goals from Angella and McGugan sealed the win.
After Bournemouth, Brighton and Reading all dropped points yesterday there was real optimism in the air before kick-off, that though coming from the away end. A victory for the Suffolk side would have sent them two points clear in sixth place with just three games of the season remaining. Injuries to David McGoldrick and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake have come at the wrong time for Mick McCarthy, the manager being forced into starting Frank Nouble up top. Watford have had injuries of their own throughout the season but were able to start with the ever impressive McGugan and Abdi partnership in the center of midfield today.
Tommie Hoban has also been plagued with injuries this season but the defender has been eased back into first-team football. The decision not to rush him back has seemed to pay off as he played a blinder alongside Joel Ekstrand and Gabriele Angella. The Scot kept the ever tricky Nouble at bay over the course of 90 minutes and also played a pivotal part in the opening goal of the game. His persistence and strong tackle won the ball back for his team on the halfway line, earning a roaring applause from the Rookery. Play was then shepherded out wide to Riera, with the former Liverpool man cutting inside onto his right foot and unleashing a fabulous curling effort into the bottom corner of the net. This came after chances for Daryl Murphy and Jonny Williams who both failed to convert their opportunities into goals.
Riera’s effort sent Watford onto their seventh win in their last nine home games in all competitions but Sannino’s side, 13th in the Championship before this one, hardly fashioned another chance before the half-time whistle.
Only the players and the rest of the management team knows what was said in the Ipswich dressing room during the interval but the boys in blue came out raring to go. They got their reward five minutes after the restart when Nouble’s cross deflected up off Angella up into the air and fell straight to the feet of an oncoming Anyhtony Wordsworth who gracefully flicked the ball past Almunia to send the crowd into delirium. The leveler seemed to spur the promotion hopefuls on; this was epitomized when local lad Luke Hyam forced the Watford keeper into an outstanding save to tip the ball onto the underside of the crossbar.
This proved to be a vital moment in the match as just a few mere minutes later the Hornets were back in front. A delightful free-kick found Angella mysteriously unmarked in the penalty area and the 24-year-old added to his impressive goal tally – the ex-Udinese center-back now has eight goals in his debut season in English football. The club have had a tendency to allow goals to slip from their grasp in this campaign, and conceding goals late on has become a devastating recurrence. Yet there was no chance of that this time around as McGugan gave Sannino’s side a two goal cushion towards the closing stages when he placed the ball through Scott Loach’s legs from a tight angle.
Deserved winners on the day Watford will be hoping that maximum points will be taken from their last four games of the season to give them a slim chance of finishing in sixth. However, three straight away games may hinder last seasons play-off runners-up due to the fact that they have only accumulated 14 points from a possible 45 away from home since October.
Meanwhile, Ipswich Town regrettably missed their opportunity to leapfrog Reading and Brighton to claim the final play-off place. This will hurt the fans, who have seen their team fail to qualify for a play-off semi-final in eight long seasons and will have to remain consistent, something they haven’t done so far, from now until May if they wish to bounce back from this defeat.