VAR to the rescue as Tranmere stage thrilling fightback
Try telling Tranmere manager Micky Mellon that the video assistant referee is ruining football. You would also get short shrift from the 2,700 Super White Army supporters who crammed into Vicarage Road yesterday to witness one of the most astonishing FA Cup comebacks in recent years.
After 34 minutes the League One strugglers looked dead and buried after goals from Watford’s Tom Dele-Bashiru, Nathaniel Chalobah and Roberto Pereyra had seemingly put the game to bed.
It was a familiar story as the youthful hosts, making nine changes from their last Premier League match against Wolves, gave their third-tier opponents a clinical lesson in finishing. Yet this is the FA Cup and Nigel Pearson’s young charges had forgotten to read the script.
Connor Jennings’s 65th-minute reply was originally flagged offside and therefore subsequently ruled out by referee Graham Scott, until VAR intervened and reversed his decision. Correctly, it must be said.
If Jennings’s strike was seemingly only a consolation goal, the contest suddenly intensified when defender Manny Monthe belied his giant frame to swivel and fire in from close range with just 12 minutes remaining.
The fairy tale was complete when Watford substitute, Mason Barrett, made a hash of a challenge on Jennings just inside the box, allowing Paul Mullin the chance to level from the penalty spot. Yet VAR then came to Tranmere’s rescue again after Scott had initially failed to see the foul and merely offered them a corner instead. Again, a good call from Stockley Park.
Mellon, whose beleaguered side sit three points from safety in League One, said: “My opinion of VAR is that it will make people defend better! If you don’t, you will give away penalties. Then if you don’t behave off the ball then you’re going to get caught. The art of defending has been complained about for about 120 years so now we’ll all have to get it right.
“I was really disappointed with our first-half display. We looked worried going to press and showed Watford too much respect. So we changed shape a little bit and played higher up the pitch.
“But credit to the boys as they were a different team in the second half. When you get momentum in a football match then it doesn’t matter who you are playing. Morgan Ferrier is our usual penalty taker, but he missed one last week and I had just taken him off, so now he’s our ex-penalty taker! The distraction of a replay is a good one for our bank manager. I’d like 10 replays.”
Dele-Bashiru struck on 12 minutes to cap his first Watford start from Chalobah’s pass. Then Chalobah helped himself to Watford’s second just two minutes later after all three of Tranmere’s centre-backs had failed to deal with a routine clearance.
Pereyra disappointed on the day, but he struck a fine third for the hosts after good work from Isaac Success and Andre Gray. Then the real drama began.
To compound the hosts’ misery, their two most “senior” players on the day, Chalobah and Pereyra, will miss next weekend’s crunch Premier League clash at Bournemouth.
Chalobah picked up an injury and was withdrawn at half-time. Petulant Pereyra earned a ridiculous and stupid red card for lashing out at Kieron Morris a minute from time.
Watford manager Pearson said: “The Premier League is our priority and I make no apologies for that. It was never my intention to do anything other than protect the squad, and look after what we need to do for the Premier League programme.
“If we were in a more comfortable situation and had more players available it would be different, but we don’t because we have a lengthy injury list.
“We can’t afford as a football club to put ourselves in a situation where we go into the league with even fewer players available. It is as simple as that.”
Pearson was still frustrated with his makeshift side for squandering such a lead. “You get to half-time and you’re 3-0 up and would expect to see it through,” he said. “Two things struck me today; we have players close to the first team who had opportunities and have probably not taken them as well as they could do. The young players have done pretty well but fitness levels have to improve. Then we had to make a change at half-time with a potential injury to Chalobah, and we don’t need that at the moment.
“It’s disappointing we have to replay the tie, but I’d rather replay it than not be in it. I’m not happy with the fact we haven’t seen the job through, but I’m also very realistic about what has happened today.”
Tranmere arrived at Vicarage Road following a 4-1 defeat at home to Coventry on New Year’s Day. Their fightback could provide them with the momentum to turn their league fortunes around.
Mellon added: “In the second half we said: ‘Come on, there are 2,500 travelling fans here and there is a lot of pride at stake.’ We were a different team with more desire, more belief and produced an unbelievable result.”