Watford v Doncaster Rovers

Shock revelation!  hold the front page!

I've found out that one of the stat's sites I was using to provide you with my informative take on all things Rovers, was about as accurate as the old Lada manufacturing method (Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk and cut with an axe).  The possession data that www.whoscored.com provided was a mile out.  I noticed when they gave Donny a possession advantage when we played Bournemouth of 55% to 45%.  That wasn't the match I listened to so I checked ESPN who had the possession as 37% to Donny and 63% to Bournemouth so not too much difference.

So I've corrected all possession stats to those supplied by ESPN (and the Press association) and discarded all other stats supplied by www.whoscored.com.  My data should now be reasonably accurate.

www.whoscored.com?  They have no idea - that's why they are asking!

Last time out...

Wooohooo! I was actually there so it's not just numbers.  I can actually talk with a little more authority.

Yeah, I was quite happy with what I saw.  It was certainly a very enjoyable game with Donny totally bossing the first half and Huddersfield coming back into it a bit more in the second.

The entertainment value is shown by the shot-count and the minutes of possession per shot.  Those are excellent stats posted by both teams, meaning that there was plenty to make both sets of fans go oooohhhh!

The players that really impressed me were first of all Richie Wellens.  How good is it to have his quality back in the centre of midfield pulling the strings and making things happen?  Then there's Ross Turnbull.  I was a defender of Gary Woods.  Give him time and he could make a decent 'keeper.  Well, his stats last season showed him to be an average League 1 'keeper.  Bearing in mind he was playing for the League champions you have to say that average simply isn't good enough.

But especially in the second half, his replacement was superb.  I never had the slightest palpitations about his positioning.  It was always excellent.  I had a couple of palpitations alright, but these were due to good Huddersfield chances being saved very well indeed.

The last player I'll single out is Bongani Khumalo.   Very composed was what came to my mind.  I was also pleased to see how he reacted to patch things up on the one occasion that I saw him play a poor ball.

The rest of the team were pleasing too in terms of their commitment to the cause which could not be questioned.  David Cotterill probably had his best game in a Rovers shirt for a good while (oops - I said I wouldn't single anyone else out).  Lots of hard work was put in on and off the ball.  It was just a shame the scoring boots weren't on otherwise after the first half performance, we would have been out of sight.

Meanwhile...

Watford were also picking up a point at home to Charlton and it wasn't plain sailing for the Hornets, coming back from falling behind to Yann Kernaghan's penalty to gain a hard earned point.

The first thing I saw of the highlights was two moves down the left-hand side involving Fernando Forestieri running at the right-back and firing shots just wide across the front of the goal.  Reece Wabara could have a busy evening.  Both moves involved frighteningly quick one-touch football.  Definitely something to concern the Rovers.

Charlton's penalty came immediately after the restart for the second half and it was a "stone-waller".  Bradley Pritchard had put Lawrie Wilson through only for Essaïd Belkalem to clumsily slide in scything the striker down.  No mistake with the penalty from Kernaghan and Watford had work to do.

And so they set about doing this work, looking excellent on the counter.  Lewis McGugan and Troy Deeney both should have done better with their chances before Deeney blazed a very good effort from range just past the post.  But the pressure was being cranked up and from a corner, Ben Hamer could only push a good Diego Fabrini shot back out into danger and a waiting Daniel Pudil who had a simple finish.  No more than Watford deserved.

Charlton could have and should have won it though.  Johnnie Jackson was on the end of Rhoys Wiggins' cross near the penalty spot.  With just the goal keeper to beat he blazed high and wide much to the relief of home fans.

It would have been harsh on Watford though.  They looked really good in how quickly they moved the ball when in possession.  This is a good team, make no mistake.

So what's going to happen?

I think we could have a very good game on our hands!  Unfortunately, I have to give Watford the edge on the in-game stats but what we have is two sides that like to work on the counter.  Neither side really relies on a lot of possession but once they get the ball they are keen to get it forward and create chances.    Those stats for the possession minutes per shot currently rank Watford and Donny 1 and 2 in the division.  That said, Watford are better at limiting their opponents than are Doncaster, which is why I give them the edge.

But on that evidence, at least the match should be entertaining!

Lets hope so!  Enjoy the match everyone.