Have you ever felt the feeling that you have been here before? Another championship decider against Watford at Ashton Gate sees the first match with make or break pressure on our players, after the two away draws at Charlton and Leicester. Needing to get back to winning ways, Bristol City face a Watford side currently lying 3rd in the table, just four points behind the leaders with a game in hand. Watford, if you recall, came to Ashton Gate during our promotion season in 1997 in a crunch game that finished 1-1 but saw the end of captain and lynchpin Shaun Taylor's campaign through injury. This time however, it is us at the summit of The Championship with nine games between us and the impossible dream. Having already beaten Watford at Vicarage Road this season Bristol City will continue their philosophy of respecting teams but not fearing them, and are hoping for another unforgettable night under the floodlights at Ashton Gate.
How They Line Up
Having performed gallantly in The Premiership on modest financial grounds, the parachute payments and sales of star players Ashley Young and Marlon King has improved the infrastructure at Vicarage Road and several summer and January signings have improved their squad. Manager Aidy Boothroyd has named an unchanged team in the past three games in a 4-4-2 formation. Richard Lee has been captaining the side between the sticks, Aidy Mariappa plays at right back, January signing Matthew Sadler at left back and the centre half pairing of Danny Shittu and Leigh Bromby completes a solid back four. All five of these players have experience in getting promotion from The Championship, with Birmingham (Sadler), Sheffield United(Bromby) and Watford(Lee, Mariappa and Shittu). This could be crucial come the seasons end. The midfield four consists of intelligent wingers Tommy Smith on the right, and critically acclaimed Jobi McAnuff on the left. In centre midfield, former Stoke captain John Eustace is alongside young John Joe O'Toole who scored the equaliser against Bristol City earlier this season. The strikeforce of Nathan 'The Duke' Ellington and Darius Henderson offers plenty of physical strength and in Ellington, a forward desperate to repay his £3.5 million price tag by scoring against his former rivals.
Lee
Mariappa Bromby Shittu Sadler
Smith Eustace O'Toole McAnuff
Ellington Henderson
Leigh Bromby offers Watford a new attacking force since his January arrival from Sheffield United - a long throw in. The match last week against Norwich made Glenn Roeder remark "It's a unique brand of football here. We tried to play the ball on the floor but when you have long throw-ins coming in every time the ball crosses the halfway line it's difficult." With this direct play and the heading abilities of Henderson and the striking prowess of Ellington we can expect a stop-start game tomorrow night with plenty of attacking throw ins. Do not rule out Watford as one trick ponies however, with the pace of McAnuff and Smith out wide they will offer counter attacks at pace if City lose posession in Watford's half.
The last 6 away matches Watford have played has seen them come away with 9 points with two wins, three draws and a loss. Although The Hornets are unbeaten in eight games, they have drawn the last four, showing that they can fail to finish teams off. After the Norwich game manager Aidy Boothroyd said "I'll go home and shout into my pillow - I'm as cross as the fans.
We allowed Norwich to come back into it. We are not taking our chances and we didn't defend properly. We should be finishing those chances."
Top scorer is Darius Henderson with 12 goals, and behind him is Nigerian international centre back Danny Shittu with 9. This shows the importance of set pieces in tomorrow night's match as both sides are deadly from set pieces - including Leigh Bromby's long throw in.
City News
Following the unbelievable 0-0 draw at Leicester, Bristol City will be anxious to get playing at Ashton Gate again, where the wind and pitch will not affect the game, but Gary Johnson has some important managerial decisions to make. At Leicester we played a 4-4-2 which allowed us to play with two lines of four against the onslaught of Leicester, and with Watford similar to Leicester in direct play with pacy wingers will Johnson start with the same side? Or will Byfield be dropped to accomodate the improved performance of Sproule and Carle playing back in the hole utilising a 4-5-1? With no new injury worries or suspensions, changes made will be tactical, with a possible change being Bradley Orr returning from suspension at right back to deal with Jobi McAnuff. This however, would be harsh on Brian Wilson who has played well in the Liverpudlian's place.
I expect to see a tense game of football with both sides showing desire and endeavour. If Bristol City defend well, we can come away with the three points, if we defend poorly and offer Watford the opportunities Leicester had, we will be in for an uphill struggle. I will be delighted with a 2-1 win similar to the match at Vicarage Road, but we will need a partisan positive crowd and the players to play without the pressures of being at the summit of The Championship. C'mon you Reds!!!
Ross Verbals
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