31 03 2007 Watford 0 Chelsea 1
A fantastic day out and despite an average performance Chelsea keep up the pressure on Manchester United.
Getting to Watford for me is ideal. Before the game I met up with a few of the lads and watched Arsenal's woeful
performance against a resurgent Liverpool side. I wonder what Gallas is thinking now after his switch to the wrong side
of London?
In good humour and armed with a few tinnies we took the train from Clapham Junction to Watford Junction. The route is
an interesting one: on the way, you pass Stamford Bridge and the new Wembley stadium before arriving at one of the
most depressing towns in the UK.
A few drinks and sing songs in the Moon Under Water and we headed off the Vicarage Road. On the way, we heard that
United had overcome a 1-0 deficit to win 4-1 at home. Despite that the fans expected an easy win for Chelsea: how
wrong we were.
Without Robben Chelsea really do look toothless in attack: Ballack was utterly abysmal and SWP had one of those
games where every cross he did seemed to go straight off for a goal kick. Thanks to the late kickoff, however, most fans
were inebriated enough to not really notice and the singing for the side was pretty good despite the average
performance.
I decided to watch the second half from the disabled section (I am going to hell anyway). From there you could really see
what a decrepit stadium Vicarage Road is. Basic facilities and no atmosphere.
Towards the final minutes, Chelsea pressed and if it wasn't for some fine goalkeeping from Ben Foster we really should
have had the game wrapped up earlier. In any case, when Chelsea scored I forgot my pretend gammy knee and went
mental next to the wheelchair supporters: what relief! Catching up with United seems unrealistic but you never know: if
we win all our remaining games 5-0 and they lose once..... Here's to dreaming!
On the way back we had some terrific banter with some Brighton fans who were on the same train returning from
Northampton: I particularly liked their unsubtle "CPFC DIE" t-shirts... I got the feeling the didn't like Crystal Palace for
some reason!
Getting to Watford for me is ideal. Before the game I met up with a few of the lads and watched Arsenal's woeful
performance against a resurgent Liverpool side. I wonder what Gallas is thinking now after his switch to the wrong side
of London?
In good humour and armed with a few tinnies we took the train from Clapham Junction to Watford Junction. The route is
an interesting one: on the way, you pass Stamford Bridge and the new Wembley stadium before arriving at one of the
most depressing towns in the UK.
A few drinks and sing songs in the Moon Under Water and we headed off the Vicarage Road. On the way, we heard that
United had overcome a 1-0 deficit to win 4-1 at home. Despite that the fans expected an easy win for Chelsea: how
wrong we were.
Without Robben Chelsea really do look toothless in attack: Ballack was utterly abysmal and SWP had one of those
games where every cross he did seemed to go straight off for a goal kick. Thanks to the late kickoff, however, most fans
were inebriated enough to not really notice and the singing for the side was pretty good despite the average
performance.
I decided to watch the second half from the disabled section (I am going to hell anyway). From there you could really see
what a decrepit stadium Vicarage Road is. Basic facilities and no atmosphere.
Towards the final minutes, Chelsea pressed and if it wasn't for some fine goalkeeping from Ben Foster we really should
have had the game wrapped up earlier. In any case, when Chelsea scored I forgot my pretend gammy knee and went
mental next to the wheelchair supporters: what relief! Catching up with United seems unrealistic but you never know: if
we win all our remaining games 5-0 and they lose once..... Here's to dreaming!
On the way back we had some terrific banter with some Brighton fans who were on the same train returning from
Northampton: I particularly liked their unsubtle "CPFC DIE" t-shirts... I got the feeling the didn't like Crystal Palace for
some reason!
