Sport: Local and national sport in and around Watford - Watford Observer

Swansea vs Watford

• Kick off: 3:00pm Sat 29 Aug 09
• Referee: Anthony Taylor
• Venue: Liberty Stadium

Final score:

Swansea City 0 - 1 Watford

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90:00: Final whistle Loach comes and punches clear and the game is over

90:00: Watford are not helping themselves. Another corner

90:00: Another Swansea corner cleared by Elliington

90:00: Watford are punished this time for poor marking at the free kick and Tate heads into the top corner

90:00: Goal! Swansea goal

90:00: Ellington clears but Harley concedes cheap free kick out wide

90:00: Four minutes injury time and Swansea have a corner

90:00: Pressure on. Loach comes to collect corner. Just what Watford needed

89:00: It was written in the script. Trundell, five yards out in the 89th minute but he headed wide.

85:00: Substitution Orlandi off for Besian Idrizaj

83:00: Swansea are on top and Orlandi forces Loach into another good save low down with a shot from 25 yards

81:00: Substitution Will Hoskins on for Graham

79:00: Painter was free at the resulting corner but Loach makes an excellent save from his close-range header

78:00: The home crowd love Lee Trundle and a neat pass puts Beattie in but a combination of DeMerit and Loach denies the debutant

76:00: Substitution Kerry Morgan for Dyer

76:00: Substitution Jon Harley on for Don Cowie

74:00: Lopez smashes the ball into the wall and then slices the rebound wide

74:00: Watford concede a free kick on the edge of the area. Dangerous .....

71:00: Substitution Probably the loudest cheer for a substitution in the history off football - Lee Trundle is back at Swansea. On for Britton

67:00: Yellow card Orlandi booked for a professional foul

65:00: A poor decision from the referee resulted in the free kick but Watford take full advantage. A quick free kick from Cleverley slips Graham through and he smashes the ball through the keepers legs from eight yards

65:00: Goal! Watford score

64:00: Yellow card Williams is harshly booked for a foul on Ellington. Strong but fair in my view

62:00: A quick free kick from Watford results in Jenkins having a relatively tames shot from distance saved

61:00: Yellow card Marcos Painter is booked

59:00: Nathan Ellington has made a difference since coming on but after great strength his cross is straight at the keeper

58:00: A break from Swansea sees Beattie through one-on-one but a world class tackle by DeMerit denies a near certain goal

55:00: A rocket from 25 yards by Orlandi was going in but Jenkins did well to get a block in, deflecting the ball out for a corner

53:00: Substitution Nathan Ellington on for Sordell

52:00: Collins cross is headed goalwards by Beattie but Loach not troubled

47:00: Watford corner caused mayhem in the Swansea box and three Watford players could have tapped the ball into the net but all of them made a mess of it and the ball was cleared

45:00: Swedish_Hornet - they are currently playing a traditional two alongside each other. Although I have only seen Lansbury three or four times, he seems more attacking than Jenkins. Jenkins is more of a work horse in midfield with Lansbury having a bit more creativity. They were trying to play Jenkins in a more advanced role earlier in the season with Severin sitting but it didn't really work

45:00: Half time It is 0-0 and that is probably a fair result. Swansea had a couple of decent efforts early on but Watford had numerous efforts from distance saved. Both sides are having five minute spells where they dominate and then the other side are on top. All still to play for

45:00: One minute of added time. Swansea have a free kick 45 yards out

44:00: A good pass from DeMerit sees Graham create a yard of space 20 yards out and de Vries is forced to parry his shot away

40:00: Watford are looking shaky at the moment

39:00: Ross Jenkins inexplicitly gives away a needless corner and Beattie should have scored when he was free at the backpost but he missed the ball

35:00: Another teasing ball from Cleverley but this time de Vries comes and punches the ball away

33:00: Cleverley shoots from 30 yards but again it is straight at the keeper

32:00: Corner for Watford but this time they go short and the ball is eventually cleared

26:00: More neat passing creates space for Cleverley to shot from 25 yards but his effort is saved with ease

25:00: Sordell has been near-on invisible so far but after a break from Cowie, he swivelled 25 yards out and curled a shot which was parried away by de Vries

20:00: Good build up from Watford allows Doyley to cross and although it was in the right area, Sordell had already made his run to the front post

18:00: One thing to note Swedish_Hornet is that before Watford just lofted the balls into the box and let Williamson attack them, whereas Cleverley's deliveries have a Beckham-like whip and curl about them.

17:00: Switch of roles see Collins cross for Gower and his volley from 18 yards thunders off the bar

16:00: A cowie pass is well controlled by Lansbury 30 yards out but he didn't connect with his shot as well as he would have liked and it was comfortably saved

14:00: Swansea corner - Orlandi's delivery is flicked on by Tate but no one can get on the end of it

12:00: Spoke too soon. After slow build-up, Mark Gower crosses from the left and right back Matthew Collins arrives late to head marginally over

9:00: Roberto Martinez may have left but Swansea still have their pleasant passing style. They have not been able to get it into the dangerous areas as of yet though

7:00: Watford's first corner was whipped in by Cleverley and Mariappa couldn't keep his header down. But what a delivery from Cleverley

3:00: And Lansbury is not afraid of a challenge that is for sure, although he has given away a free kick 35 yards out. But it was wasted by Gower

2:00: Even though it was short-lived, there was a nice spell of possession from Watford and I've been impressed by the confidence of Lansbury so far. There is a definite swagger about the Arsenal youngster

1:00: One thing of note is the youth of this Watford side. There are six players in the starting XI who are 21 or younger

0:00: The game is just about to kick off folks

0:00: Swedish_Hornet - I can confirm it was the club who told us about Williamson not travelling and why. Depressing I know, especially as he has been outstanding this season and is crucial for Watford

0:00: Mike Williamson has not travelled to Wales for Watford's game with Swansea after declaring himself unfit after the Hornets rejected his transfer request. The centre back, who joined from Wycombe Wanderers in January, handed in a written transfer request on Thursday after Portsmouth submitted an undisclosed bid. And yesterday Williamson reported to training claiming he was injured and unfit to travel with the squad. This has resulted in Adrian Mariappa partnering Jay DeMerit in the centre of defence this afternoon, with 17-year-old Lee Hodson starting at right back once again. Another surprise selection is Arsenal's Henri Lansbury joining Ross Jenkins in the centre of midfield – both are just 18 years old. Danny Graham is fit after coming off injured against Leeds United and will be play alongside Marvin Sordell, who scored his first professional on Tuesday and will make his first start for Watford this afternoon. Craig Beattie is making his debut for Swansea after signing from West Bromwich Albion for £800,000. The Swans make six changes to the side which lost to Scunthorpe United in the Carling Cup but fans favourite Lee Trundle has to settle with a place on the bench following his loan move from Bristol City. The Welsh side are without Garry Monk, Angel Rangel and Gorka Pintado through suspension and have a further eight out with injuries. Swansea: de Vries; Collins, Painter, Williams, Tate; Britton, Orlandi, Lopez; Dyer, Beattie, Gower. Subs: Morgan, Trundle, Cornell, Richards, Idrizaj, MacDonald, Bond. Watford: Loach; Hodson, Mariappa, DeMerit, Doyley; Cowie, Lansbury, Jenkins, Cleverley; Sordell, Graham. Subs: Lee, Severin, Harley, Eustace, Bryan, Hoskins, Ellington.