The Championship game between Watford and Queens Park Rangers at Vicarage Road on Monday Nov 7, 2009.
Adversity off the pitch threatens Watford’s progress on it this season but their exuberant young players continue to make noticeable strides.
Exuberant football played with an infectious vigor was enough to momentarily transport their suffering fans away from agonising thoughts about the club's financial difficulties.
For at least 90 minutes they could bask in the intense satisfaction of their club, paupers by comparison with their affluent opponents, outfighting and outplaying players expected to make a surge for promotion to the Premier League.
Instead it is Watford, up to sixth in the Championship, who are making the kind of progress demanded by QPR’s demanding owners. The noose may be tightening around Jim Magilton’s neck.
Watford may not have millions to lavish on players but their football was rich in enthusiasm and dynamism. The architect of QPR's demise was Tom Cleverley.
The youngster, on loan from Manchester United, has expressed his belief that he is ready for Premier League football at Old Trafford. His boots did the talking here.
He netted the killer goal in stoppage time, leaving behind tiring QPR legs, after Lloyd Doyley and Don Cowie had scored. The first half was attritional but Cleverley provided the inspiration.
There were tantalising flashes of his impudence and confidence. Starting one move, he found Cowie, who played in Danny Graham, whose pass back to Cleverley prompted a fierce strike just over. He dictated the tempo of Watford’s play.
QPR had taken the lead when an unmolested Alejandro Faurlin played in Patrick Agyemang, whose shot was low and crisp past Scott Loach.
The contest needed a goal. Watford needed a response. Cleverley was ravenous for the ball, often throwing open his arms for a pass, always providing an option for a team-mate.
Then the breakthrough. With half time looming Jon Harley crossed from the left, Cowie’s first time effort flew across goal and Doyley sent a thundering header past Radek Cerny. It was some way to register his first senior goal for Watford.
Harley, once an icon of youthful promise at Chelsea whose wisdom and experience now perforates Watford’s raw dynamism, was a penetrating outlet wide on the left.
They bristled with menace all over the park. At the start of the second half, Graham escaped down the left and swung over a cross. Nathan Ellington’s header was pushed on to a post by Cerny.
Then Cleverley took centre stage again. Leaving Faurlin gasping in his slipstream with a burst of pace, the youngster tore through before weighting a pass into the path of Cowie. His shot fizzed across the turf and into the far corner.
Watford came again. Harley spooned a shot towards goal, Cerny clawed it out then denied the onrushing Graham. Cleverley then glided past Leigertwood before sending a shot arrowing over the bar.
Frustration gripped QPR. Damion Stewart clattered into a two-footed tackle which drew a caution.
Adel Taraabt, often a source of inspiration for QPR, was introduced as a substitute in the 59th minute but could affect no dramatic change. Cleverley, still full of energy, applied the finishing touch. The magician, this time round, wore yellow.
Match Details:
Watford: Loach; Hodson, Marlappa, Cathcart (Demerit h-t), Doyley, Cowie, Harley, Eustace, Cleverley, Graham, Ellington (Henderson 57).
Subs: Lee, Severin, Bennett, Sadler, Bryan.
Queens Park Rangers: Cerny; Ramage, Stewart, Hall, Borrowdale, Leigertwood (Buzsaky 76), Routledge (Simpson 72), Watson, Faurlin, Vine (Taarabt 59), Agyemang.
Subs: Taylor (g), Pellicori, Gorkss, Williams.
Booked: Stewart, Hall, Borrowdale.
Referee: A Penn (W Midlands).
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