Watford surrender 88th minute lead to lose 3-2 at Blackpool (From Watford Observer)

Watford surrender 88th minute lead to lose 3-2 at Blackpool

5:01pm Saturday 23rd January 2010 in

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Watford led 2-1 with two minutes of normal time to go but lost 3-2 at Blackpool to extend their winless run to seven matches.

Charlie Adam gave the home side the lead on 17 minutes but Henri Lansbury soon equalised after some good work from Heidar Helguson.

Scott Loach kept his side in the match with a number of inspired saves and seemed to have helped his side secure their first win since December 7 when Tom Cleverley finished off a fine move with just over ten minutes to go.

However, Blackpool grabbed a controversial equaliser on 89 minutes as Keith Southern initially seemed to be offside before scoring at the second attempt.

And in the first minute of injury time, Brett Omerod grabbed the winner to land Pool their first win in five.

The Hornets made one change to the starting line-up as Danny Graham, who has scored once in 17 matches, made way for Ross Jenkins, with Cleverley initially joining Helguson up top.

Loach was Watford's stand-out player in last week's 2-1 defeat at Doncaster Rovers and the England Under-21 international needed to make two superb saves from headers in the opening ten minutes.

First he denied Adam by clawing away an effort which was set to dip into the top corner and then he tipped over a Keith Southern header.

Heidar Helguson dragged a volley wide around the quarter hour mark and Brett Omerod fired over from distance but it wasn't long before the opener arrived.

Loach saved Southern's initial effort but he was unable to gather Neal Eardley's cross under pressure from Adam and the former Rangers midfielder bundled the ball home from close range.

However, the visitors equalised ten minutes later when Helguson dribbled his way into the six yard box on the left byline and cut the ball back to Lansbury, to leave the on loan Arsenal midfielder to coolly slot past Paul Ruchubka.

Southern had a couple of efforts from distance go wide and Tom Cleverley's shot was blocked but the score remained level going into the break.

Loach was called into action again early in the second half. The 21-year-old will know he should have held on to Eardley's shot from 20 yards but he recovered well to get back on his feet and save Omerod's rebound.

Helguson had a half chance go wide but it was Pool who should have taken the lead on 54 minutes. The home side broke three-on-two from a Watford corner and Barry Bannan picked out the unmarked Adam in the middle, but his touch was really poor and allowed the defenders to recover and block his shot.

Lansbury was having more of an impact than in recent weeks and had two chances in quick succession to net his second of the game.

A Jenkins dummy allowed Lansbury the space to shoot from ten yards out and he was also put through one-on-one but on both occasions Rachubka was equal to the on loan Arsenal youngster.

Vaughan was causing problems for Watford breaking from deep and shortly after sending a dangerous ball across the goalmouth, Loach had to save the midfielder's shot with his feet.

Loach then made a super stop to deny Adam from 30 yards and seem to have helped his side secure the three points when Cleverley and Lansbury combined well and the on loan Manchester United midfielder netted his tenth goal of the season on 79 minutes.

But with two minutes left of normal time, Watford failed to clear their lines properly and a Ishmel Demontagnac shot fell straight to Southern and although Loach did well to save his initial effort, he couldn't do anything about him converting the rebound.

And less than two minutes later, Omerod bundled home a Nardiello cross to extend Watford's winless run to seven matches.

Blackpool: Eardley, Evatt (Nardiello 88), Baptiste, Crainey; Southern, Adams, Vaughan; Taylor-Fletcher (Burgess 75), Omerod, Bannan (Demontagnac 75). Subs: Gilks, Butler, Edwards, Bangura.

Watford: Loach; Hodson (Bennett 70), Mariappa, DeMerit, Doyley; Cowie (Harley 52), Lansbury (Graham 80), Eustace, Cleverley; Cowie; Helguson. Subs: Lee, Bryan, McGinn, Hoskins.

Referee: Carl Boyeson

Attendance: 6,855 (346)

Comments(61)

psycho1 says...
5:07pm Sat 23 Jan 10

Two goals away from home- lets take the positves before the doom mongers get on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COYH!!!!