Ain't no stopping us now

The Watford manager was booed as he took his place in the dug out before kick off and rightly so but it was in the home dug out where the surprise came with Steve Cotterill naming Wayne Thomas as a substitute following his recovery from a knee injury that has been somewhat quicker than we dared hope or expect.

On the pitch there were two changes. As expected Jon Harley returned for the departed Keith Lowe in the back four whilst Graham Branch was back for the out of form Garreth O’Connor who was on the bench. It was the first time Branch had appeared in a home game since that shocking challenge by Shaun Derry nine weeks ago.

I think it is fair to say that the game got off to a quiet start. Both sides passed the ball around well enough but neither came close to creating anything like a chance although Watford did get a couple of shots in on goal that Brian Jensen dealt with comfortably.

If anything Watford were the brighter of the two sides but we started to come into it a little some twenty minutes in. You did sense though that any breakthrough would come via a silly mistake and it almost did when Micah Hyde, playing against his former club, lost the ball to Matthew Spring.

Spring scored against us down at Vicarage Road back in August but then there was no goalkeeper. This time he really should have scored but his shot was poor and the Beast had no problems in collecting the ball.

It was a chance wasted by the visitors and they were soon to pay for it when we took the lead when Clarke Carlisle made a real mess of things just inside his own half of the field. In came Branchy to nick the ball from him and he was away down the left wing with the chasing defenders unable to get anywhere near him.

Branchy should surely have squared the ball across for Ade Akinbiyi but he delayed the ball so long that he was left with little option but to keep going. He then looked to have knocked the ball too far in front of him but then pulled the trigger and hit his shot past Ben Foster and into the far bottom corner.

It was his first goal of the season and there was more to come from the Clarets before half time, courtesy of the hapless goalkeeper Foster. He had the ball in his hands and cleared it upfield but somewhere didn’t appear to be aware that he couldn’t carry it outside the penalty box.

Not as though the assistant would have noticed had the crowd not reacted but he suddenly looked up and flagged. This was something of a surprise given that this assistant didn’t get anything else right all afternoon in what was a very poor performance from him.

Some in the crowd were chanting for the keeper to be sent off, why I am not sure, but I would have certainly expected a yellow card from referee Eddie Ilderton. Still, Foster was punished as Jon Harley hit a shot straight through the wall and into the bottom corner for 2-0. It was Harley’s first goal for the Clarets, or was it? There’s no doubt John McGreal was trying to claim it so it looks as though it could have taken a deflection off him.

That was it for the first half and without being at our best we took a two goal lead in at the interval whilst coach extraordinaire Boothroyd prepared for some changes. He made a double substitution and incredibly decided to move central defender Clarke Carlisle up front.

It had no effect from what I could see and we looked in total control in the early part of the second half. There was a scramble in our box but the nearest we came to another goal was at the other end as Foster saved a powerful shot hit from a tight angle by Michael Duff. He could only parry it into the air but recovered in time to prevent Ade heading home.

Then just after the hour the game was turned on its head when Watford pulled one back through Marlon King. Frank Sinclair got the wrong side of the forward but even so it was a cracking shot from King that nestled into the bottom corner to Jensen’s right.

Suddenly there was a game on and Watford sensed it. And things could have got worse for us as a Watford header looked destined for the corner. But the Beast got across to parry it and then reacted superbly to block the follow up shot.

Had that gone in who knows what would have happened but that really was the end of Watford as an inspired substitution by Steve Cotterill swung things back Burnley’s way. Gifton Noel-Williams came on and almost immediately we came close to restoring the two goal advantage.

Branchy crossed from the left and only a last ditch header from Mackay at the expense of a corner prevented Ade getting on the end of it. We came even closer from the corner as Gifton headed towards goal, it looked a certainly goal but was cleared off the line.

The momentum was back with us and when a back pass fell short of the keeper, Branchy nipped in only to be brought down by him. With Garreth O’Connor on the bench, Ade stepped up to take it before eventually handing over the responsibility to Harley. The full back made no mistake, sending Foster the wrong way, for his second goal of the game.

We went forward again and the impressive Gifton was involved as we almost immediately hit a fourth. The ball was played into him and he flicked it on for James O’Connor to race through and slot it past the goalkeeper with some ease.

The game was up for the now downward looking Boothroyd and his Golden Boys and although the scoreline was flattering us to some extent it could have been even more. Twice Ade went through only to see his shots go wide. I felt he was fouled on the first which should have led to a penalty and had the second gone in it would have been a magnificent finish.

There was just time left for another couple of changes, the first of which saw Wayne Thomas get into the action for a few minutes. He was followed by Wade Elliott who went on an excellent run with the ball whilst Ade almost got the goal his performance deserved, only to be denied by the goalkeeper.

The win took us up three places and I think we are going into Christmas in a lot healthier position than many of us dared hope. This was a good win, make no mistake about it, Watford are a good and a well organised side.

It was a good team performance which had some very good individual performances within it, and none better than John McGreal who was back to his best at the back. Incredibly the sponsors vote went to Nathan Dyer.

It’s set us up nicely for the busy Christmas period and four games in eight days and we now have Watford in our sights.

The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Nathan Dyer (Wade Elliott 89), John Spicer (Gifton Noel-Williams 67), Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Graham Branch (Wayne Thomas 88), Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Garreth O’Connor.

Watford: Ben Foster, Lloyd Doyley, Clarke Carlisle, Malky Mackay, Jordan Stewart, Paul Devlin (Joel Grant 74), Matthew Spring, Gavin Mahon, James Chambers (Jay DeMerit 45), Toumani Diagouraga (Anthony McNamee 45), Marlon King. Subs not used: Alec Chamberlain, Francino Francis.

Referee: Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear).

Attendance: 13,815.