Pearson dedicates crushing win over feeble Bournemouth to the man who put Watford on map
AS a tribute to Watford godfather and former England manager Graham Taylor, it was just about perfect.
On the third anniversary of Taylor’s death, Troy Deeney led a textbook contain-and-destroy raid at the seaside as the Hornets bounded out of the bottom three.
And the Golden Boys’ resurrection under Nigel Pearson – 13 points from five games – is gathering such irresistible momentum, the smart money must be on the Hornets’ escape tunnel to surface beyond the stalag’s barbed wire.
When Pearson arrived at Vicarage Road 38 days ago, Watford were seven points adrift of safety and written off like a bad debt.
Now they are above the dotted line for the first time this season and, up in the celestial directors’ box, a familiar toothpaste smile has been restored to their most famous manager’s face.
Pearson, acknowledging Taylor’s god-like reputation in Hornets heartlands, said: “You have to remember Graham’s status at this club, and if a performance like that gives the fans a lot of pleasure, that’s something else the players can be proud of.”
Bournemouth were poor and manager Eddie Howe is facing his biggest test.
Such has been the narrative around ‘plucky little Bournemouth’ and their free-scoring style, the only surprise is that Howe has not yet been cast as the title role in the new West End stage production of Mary Poppins.
Fittingly for a proverbial relegation six-pointer, for 40 minutes both sides looked more nervous than chickens in a hen house when KFC are running low on stock and Colonel Sanders comes calling.
And for the most part, the first half was a nonevent until three minutes before the break, when Bournemouth’s insistence on short goal-kick routines cost them dear.
In fairness, the Cherries have not been the only Premier League team with a death wish to make Charles Bronson envious.
Arsenal, especially, had a fatal attraction with this artistic drivel under Unai Emery, and now Howe has caught the virus. The tactic is out of kilter with
Howe’s high-tempo, highoctane approach, and when goalkeeper Mark Travers – in his first league appearance of the season - could only shovel a hospital pass from Simon Francis straight to Ismaila Sarr, the roof fell in on the home side.
Sarr’s cut-back reached Abdoulaye Doucoure, who was afforded enough time to take two touches before picking his spot from 10 yards.
Watford skipper Deeney revealed: “He won’t say it, but ‘Doucs’ hasn’t trained one day this week because he’s been on painkillers – but look at that performance. It’s all right being nice and playing good football, but this guy has put in a serious shift.”
Deeney scored himself 20 minutes after the break after the rampant Sarr had left Steve Cook on his backside not once, but twice, in the build-up.
And the Cherries’ misery was complete in stoppage time when one substitute, Andre Gray, was denied on the line by Ryan Fraser but another, Roberto Pereyra, devoured the rebound.
“There’s only one Graham Taylor,” roared the 1,300 visiting fans. Did he not enjoy that upstairs.