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Match Report: Watford 2-1 Ipswich |
Ipswich squandered an early lead to suffer a third defeat of the season. Paul Bloomfield reportsNew season-long loan-signing from Fulham, Moritz Volz made his debut for Town at right back. Iván Campo was perhaps surprisingly handed a start, after playing 75 minutes against Colchester in midweek. Town were gifted an ideal opportunity to take the lead just seconds into the game, something which Pablo Couñago duly took advantage of. Watford goalkeeper Mart Poom failed to elevate his clearance, with the ball landing at the feet of Couñago. The Spaniard held off the attentions of a couple of Watford defenders before coolly slotting the ball past Poom into the net. Kevin Lisbie had a golden opportunity to put Town 2-0 up on 22 minutes, when he lofted the ball over Mart Poom but saw the ball drop the wrong side of the post and into the side netting. The striker will feel that he really should have done better, and you feared that Town would live to regret these missed opportunities. Lisbie also had the option of laying the ball off to Couñago who would have had the simple task of rolling the ball into an empty net. Watford made an extremely poor start to the game which made for a very quiet home crowd, who only made themselves heard in disapproval of what they were seeing. Despite Ipswich having the better of the first-half, Town survived two scares highlighting that the one goal lead wasn’t comfortable enough. Firstly, Watford’s Tamás Priskin rounded Richard Wright before going down after marginal contact from Gareth McAuley, but the referee waved away the Watford protests for a spot kick. The home side almost equalised soon after when Jon Harley saw his header come back off the post and into the grateful arms of Richard Wright. Watford started the second half a lot better, and equalised in the 59th minute when an unchallenged John Eustace headed in from a corner. It was a very disappointing goal from a Town perspective, who simply failed to pick him up. Watford were the only team that looked like scoring as the game neared its end, and the home side got what they’d been threatening five minutes from time. Richard Wright failed to hold Jobi McAnuff’s shot, with John-Joe O’Toole on hand to put away the rebound. You never fancied Ipswich to recover, and indeed they did not; with Town’s second half performance reminiscent of last season, when the Blues couldn’t win away from home for love nor money. It obviously doesn’t pay Ipswich to go in front early as the last time it happened Town ended up losing by the same score line at home to Preston on the opening day. The international break means that Town will have to wait to put things right, with the far from simple task of overcoming Reading next on the agenda. Watford: Poom, Doyley, DeMerit, Bromby, Parkes (O'Toole 46), McAnuff, Williamson (Francis 82), Eustace, Harley, Smith, Priskin (Henderson 82). Unused: Loach, Mariappa Ipswich: R.Wright, Volz, Naylor, McAuley, Thatcher, Walters, Campo, Miller, Trotter (Shumulikoski 82), Lisbie (Haynes 66), Couñago (Rhodes 75). Unused: Supple, Rhodes, Balkestein Paul Bloomfield Click to view author Paul Bloomfield's profile Fancy writing for LiveFootball? Click here to find out more. |