Workmanlike Watford claim three points as City huff and puff but fail to score against the League leaders.
Report by Adrian Hoggarth.

We came, we saw, we lost. We didn't deserve to, but we did. And when someone tots up the “points scored” column at the end of the season, it will not show that we outplayed Crystal Palace for almost the entire game, or that we matched league leaders Watford for all but one minute of this game, it will show that ultimately we picked up just one point from our last two. This was another good away performance, and an enjoyable spectacle as a game, but it was a performance ultimately without the end product required to reverse our recent stumble down the table.

With the Hertfordshire sun shining gaily on a rather meagre 15,803 at Vicarage Road, we lined up:

Myhill
Ricketts Turner Brown Delaney
Garcia Marney Livermore Hughes
McPhee Campbell

So, an instant starting place for our new Manchester United youngster, enforced changes brought about by injuries to Jay Jay and Henrik, and Deano dropped to the bench, no doubt with Monday evening’s game in mind.

Watford began the game with a typical “I put £20 on the time of the first throw-in being 3 seconds into the game, and I’m going to make sure I win it” kick off, with the ball flying into touch in a way that would have pleased the upper class egg-chasing brigade. And within the first couple of minutes our new loan signing made an impact, flicking on a Myhill clearance and causing mild panic in the Hornets’ defence. With Fraizer such a recent signing that he wasn’t even listed on the back of the matchday programme, the opposition may have been slightly surprised to be facing a skilful, quick, hard-working youngster, whose first outing for City showed considerable promise.

City had the better of the opening exchanges, and looked untroubled by most of what Watford had to offer. On 10, Campbell showed his skill, winning the ball and passing out to Hughes who knocked the ball in to McPhee, but the ball ricocheted out for a goal kick. A minute later, Marney took a short free kick high up the pitch on our left, playing it short and taking the return, classic pass and give football, before hitting a strong shot that was well held by Lee, low to his right.

The City support were in great voice throughout, creating a fine atmosphere in our corner of the stand, as Watford’s fans slumbered, only the tedious noise from their lone drummer breaking through the libraric silence emanating from the home stands.

Livermore earned himself a booking on 13 for a late challenge on Shittu that left the big man writhing on the floor for the requisite time needed to convince referee Woolmer to brandish a yellow card. From the restart, King controlled the ball well and got in a shot that was blocked for a corner. The corner, swung in from our left, worryingly evaded everyone before reaching Livermore at the back post, who headed clear.

On 15, McPhee won the ball and found Campbell. Campbell threaded it through the defence to Hughes on the left edge of the box. Hughes took it on, but his shot found the side netting with Lee untroubled. A disappointing result, but a quality move. Back down the other end, a clear backpass to Myhill was adjudged to have been accidental, and we all chuckled as the Watford fans woke up and went spare for a while.

Some good work from Marney in the box a couple of minutes later created an opportunity to cross, but his pull back was just behind Campbell. Immediately, they went up the other end and scored. The ball was played up to King, who took on Delaney. Our Corkster lion tackled tamely, went to ground and left King to take it into the box, take aim and hit a perfectly directed shot past Myhill and into the far corner. 0-1, somewhat against the run of play, but summing up the difference between the sides. Marlon King, basically. A player who, if there was a special league created between the Premiership and the Championship, would be ideally suited to it. Probably not good enough for the top league, but too good for this one.

In answer to this, we attacked. A Campbell flick-on to Hughes came to nothing when his cross floated tamely into the goalkeeper’s hands. I find Hughes a little troubling. Clearly able to pass a ball with ease, he’s not yet made the impact his reputedly large wages demand. On 25, a Marney free kick on the right found McPhee’s head, but he couldn’t get enough on it to trouble Lee.

Brown was next to see yellow, just after the half hour, for stopping King in the most effective way: kicking him 10 feet in the air. To be fair to Brown, he was apologising for it before King came back down to earth several minutes later, but this didn’t excuse the foul or save him from a booking. Five minutes later a Garcia cross from the right was met by a diving header from McPhee, but his effort went wide.

Johnson beat Ricketts down the left on 39 minutes, taking it into the box before crossing with pace. Myhill palmed the cross out to one of theirs, who sent his header wide. A minute later, more good work from Campbell and Ricketts set up Marney, but his left footed shot from outside the box didn’t have enough on it to trouble Lee. In the five minutes before the break there was time for Turner to deny King with an excellent last-ditch tackle, and Brown to head away a dangerous cross. Right on half time Marney failed to commit to a challenge that, if he’d won it, would have seen him clean through. To make amends, he chopped down Mahon to earn himself a yellow. I guess this sums up Marney’s record with City so far. He’s never quite put in the right amount of effort or quality at the right times and in the right places. There’s a good player there, it’s just not quite working at the moment.

Half time, and a goal down, but plenty to admire in City’s performance.

Five minutes after the break, Stewart broke through with a powerful run that resulted in a corner. Stewart looked good as an attacking left back, something we are struggling to find at the moment. Let’s hope Phil Brown’s next move into the transfer market finds the solution to this.

With Watford not showing a great deal of ambition to trouble us further, and with our 4-4-2 not causing them much of a problem, Windass was brought on for Garcia and we switched to 4-3-3. For the next 10 minutes or so we had our best attacking spell, with Watford taking a while to adapt, and the three-pronged attack causing them a few problems. Windass won the ball on 54 and played it back to Ricketts, whose early ball through caught the Watford defence flat footed as Hughes raced on to it. Had he also been sitting with us in the stand as well as being on the pitch, he would have seen that a looping header in the direction of the goal would probably have levelled the scores, with Lee off his line and out of position; but he wasn’t, and instead he took a touch and when he finally got his shot away the defence was back and it was blocked. Good move though. A couple of minutes later and Delaney played in Campbell on the left wing, but with plenty of time our new Manchester United hero (replacing Jamie Wood) crossed rather tamely to the goalkeeper. A minute after that and Campbell took a shot from outside the box that went just wide. We were on top for a spell, but unable to create any more than half chances.

Watford got back into the game and fashioned a few chances of their own, with King slicing a shot wide and out for a throw in, amusingly, after which Myhill was adjudged to have been fouled when he dropped a deep cross that was knocked into the goal after the whistle had gone. On 59 Delaney was penalised for clearly holding one of theirs, and when the free kick was cleared to O’Toole, his well struck shot from outside the box was tipped over by Myhill for a corner. Good save. Three minutes later and a corner from the Watford right was met at the near post by King, who was disappointed to find his goal-bound effort blocked by Ricketts on the line.

City continued to pass the ball around confidently, and with 20 minutes to go Delaney struck a shot wide from outside the box. We were having plenty of the play, and getting close to their box but unable to create anything much within it. Livermore got a shot in, but it wasn’t the rasper that he put in when scoring for Millwall against us a couple of seasons back, and was easily saved. He was replaced by Featherstone on 79. Elliott then replaced Campbell on 81, with the City support offering the new boy a generous round of applause for a very pleasing first outing in Tiger colours.

With five to go, a cross whipped in by Featherstone was just too high for Windass, who connected meatily with it but in stretching to get to it couldn’t direct it downwards and it whistled over the bar. A minute later, and we created our best chance of the game, with an outstanding move involving skilful touches from Elliott, McPhee and Windass, the final touch setting up Elliott on the edge of the box, but his strike flew over as we all stood in anticipation of some net-billowage. Great skill from all three of them, and deserving of more reward; the end product summing up our current form.

Three minutes of added on time were professionally wasted around our right hand corner flag, with the Tiger Nation baying for a good old fashioned scything of some Hornet legs and appropriate red cardage, and it was all over. Good game, one we were in from beginning to end, but ultimately a defeat.

The problem with bringing in a lot of ageing former Premiership players, as I see it, is getting them all fit enough to play. With Okocha and Pedersen out, and Windass on the bench, we were without a cutting edge to break down a competent Watford side. They look as though they will regularly grind out this kind of win without breaking into too much of a sweat, quite like we did in our two recent promotion seasons, in the knowledge that they have Marlon King to score the goals when no-one else is really shining. We need to find someone to do that job for us, or risk languishing in the environs of the relegation zone for the rest of the season. Maybe a combination of Windass, Jay Jay, Pedersen, Folan and Campbell will do the trick, if we can get at least a couple of them fit for a spell. We also need to stop leaking goals through a recognised defensive weakness in one of our full back positions. Until we sort this out, we may well continue this trend of playing well and not picking up the points.

Close, but no cigar.

HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill; Ricketts, Turner, Brown, Delaney; Garcia, Livermore, Marney, Hughes; McPhee, Campbell.  Subs: Windass (for Garcia, 52), Featherstone (for Livermore, 78), Elliott (for Ricketts, 80), Dawson, Duke.

Goals: None

Booked: Brown, Livermore, Marney

Sent Off: None

WATFORD: Lee, Doyley, DeMerit, Shittu, Stewart, Smith, O'Toole, Mahon, Johnson, King, Henderson.  Subs: McAnuff (for Smith, 73), Ellington (for Henderson, 73), Loach, Priskin, Mariappa.

Goals: King 20

Booked: None

Sent Off: None

REFEREE:  A Woolmer

ATTENDANCE: 15,803