Observer Archive (From Watford Observer)

The Lost Article

3:10pm Tuesday 9th June 2009 in Luke Truppin By Luke Truppin

Perhaps the date 9/12/2007 is more relevant to me than most other Watford fans. You may remember either travelling to Stoke or simply watching nothing happen on television. Either way, Stoke nil Watford nil is hardly in the same league as the Chopra demolition of now Premiership Burnley.

My personal love for this game was that it was my first match review for the paper. Unfortunately, I was celebrating my birthday and so I couldn’t get hold of a printed copy. Imagine my delight whilst browsing through watfordobserver.com’s archive, the 13/12/2007 edition of the Watford Free contains that very dull Stoke game.

Looking back I think it is a safe assumption I have improved as a reviewer, but with that said, there are still some very interesting observations. The Rory Delap long throw is described as ineffectual; although Stoke’s survival argues otherwise, in this game it just didn’t amount to anything.

The closing paragraph of the article is possibly the most saddening of the piece though. Damien Francis was subbed on late in the second half, in what was possibly his first attempt at a return from injury. Yeah, the review ends wishing Francis the best of luck in his attempt to regain full fitness. As we all know though this wasn’t to be and Watford were to fall from the top of the Championship, but this is just one piece of the puzzle that makes up Watford’s history.

Go to http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?refresh=4r0WN7t1w18X&PBID=3AC65B01-29F0-4898-A05B-17DD662EC516 to search the archives like I did and hopefully you can find that clipping you wished you’d kept. It’s really easy to navigate and it’s a good way to get a piece of Watford history football related or otherwise.