GRAY DAY AS SILVA MEN SLUMP AGAIN
Watford 1 Everton 0 Tom Hopkinson
ANDRE GRAY heaped more misery on his old boss Marco Silva with the goal that extended Everton’s dreadful run.
This defeat made it four in five Premier League games for the team Silva finally joined following his acrimonious departure from Watford.
And with that FA Cup loss to Millwall last month as well, the Portuguese and his men really are on their downers.
They were poor for large periods of this game, especially in the first half.
And while they twice hit the woodwork and arguably deserved a point, they certainly didn’t deserve anything more.
Watford weren’t any better in those first 45 minutes, a half most fans will want to forget.
But they didn’t waste the one good chance that came their way after the interval and Gray, a half-time substitute, struck his fifth goal of the season to give them a victory they so desperately wanted against their former boss.
Javi Gracia can take much of the credit for changing the Hornets’ system, although the goal owed so much to the delicious reverse pass Craig Cathcart played to Will Hughes, who provided the cross for Gray. Everton had enough chances to win the game with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Lucas Digne striking the bar, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin missing a good headed chance late on.
And to compound the visitors’ misery, Kurt Zouma was sent off – without even realising he had been – after the final whistle for two bookings within 15 seconds.
Silva’s men, like their manager, were furious because they felt Watford were given a corner in the lead-up to the goal that should have been a goal-kick.
Silva (left) said: “In the moment they scored the goal, the corner was not a corner. The ball passed half-a-metre away from Jordan Pickford and no one touched the ball.
“I spoke with Kurt and he said he received one yellow card and, after, the referee gave him the second one.
“Of course, it’s a moment to be calm but sometimes it’s not easy.
“Kurt was saying what all the other players were saying, that it wasn’t a corner.
“If all the players can see it’s impossible that the referee and his assistant can’t see.”
Silva, unsurprisingly, didn’t half cop some flak from the locals and it started well before kick-off with a few choice tunes from the Vicarage Road DJ.
Al Wilson’s 1969 hit ‘The Snake’ and Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ were two of the records belted out over the loudspeakers.
Watford had a great chance early on when Etienne Capoue found himself one-on-one with Pickford but the ball hit the keeper in the face and deflected over.
Headers from Michael
Keane and Zouma were easy for Ben Foster but he then had to make a good save to deny Cenk Tosun.
Gracia said: “I’m very happy to get three points, and after seeing all our supporters enjoy the game and the result, it is something amazing for us.”