Perhaps a Glimmer of Hope

Many fans feel its a forgone conclusion, but on the evidence of Saturday's performance, relegation is not in the mind of the players. After humiliating peformances against Stoke, Palace and West Brom many weren't expecting much. However the match sort of contrasted all expectations. Not many regular followers stayed away; a 'bumper' crowd of almost 17,000 was to play a part in lifting the players spirits. Many expected a drastic team change as a 'last throw of the dice' attempt by Ray Lewington, but the team certainlty didn't look last resort nor poor.

Jerel Ifil was brought into the side at centre back and put on a solid performance. There's more to read into his peformance; many say look at all the out of contract players if we go down. Jerel is just another glimpse of Watford's future and one who will almost certianly be here for years to come.

Ray's critics had many words to eat after the game on Saturday. Former 'boo boy', Gavin Mahon put on a pele like performance first half and could have bagged two goals, but he had to settle for one.

The players began the game brightly from the off. They closed down the opposition and created chances whenever on the attack. Sunderland had all the possesion, but he didn't really count as we always looked like the mroe dangerous side. Fitzgerald probed down the right hand side the whole of the first half looked far from jaded. He was able to notch an assist after cutting the ball back nicely to Mahon on the penalty spot to put us 1 up on 7 minutes.

When the second half resumed there was a feeling of optimism throughout the ground. The Rookery kept singing and were silencing the large away contingent. Our second was 'lucky', but who says we don't deserve a bit of that. After seeing the TV replays the penalty given was clearly outside the box and was not even a foul. Who really cares? Coxy scored from the point.

But we knew it wasn't over. The token the late goal from the opposition had to come, but as the cliche goes, 'bad thingss come in two's.' Sunderland some how cungered up two late goals to send the home fans previous glory into pain.

Who really believed we would get a point? This performance was far more encouraging that any other recently and demonstrated we are good enough to stay up and the only way is up.

Keep th faith, stay positive