Two First Half Goals Beat Millers

Watford 2 Rotherham United 0
Kabasele (4)
Deeney (15)

After a first half to forget Paul Warne’s half-time talk did some good and we were better in the second half just not ‘better enough’ to get the ball into the back of the net.

While Rotherham United brought in Billy Jones for the injured Joe Mattock, Dan Barlaser and Kyle Vassell also got starts this evening with Richard Wood and Freddie Ladapo dropping to the bench the hosts made three changes with Ben Wilmot, James Garner and João Pedro making way for Kiko Feminia, Nathaniel Chalobah and Stipe Percia.

The game was just three minutes old when Watford got a corner which found Troy Deeney who flicked it on to Christian Kabasele who unmarked put the ball into the net to make it one-nil to the hosts. The Millers got their first corner on eleven minutes taken by Dan Barlaser, headed away by Tom Cleverley but only as far as Jamie Lindsay who slipped. Minutes later Ben Wiles won a free-kick for the visitors which Barlaser took and came to nothing. On fifteen minutes a low delivery into the area for Watford was sliced by Wes Harding picked up by Deeney who made it two-nil to the Hornets. Some nice work from Watford saw the ball find Cleverley who put the ball over the bar from just outside the box before the same player had a shot that he put wide. At the other end Billy Jones sent a ball in towards Kyle Vassell but William Troost-Ekong was alert to the danger and got the ball to safety. Jamal Blackman did well when he came out to grab the ball from a dangerous cross in from Ken Sema before Cleverley sent a ball in for Christian Kabasele who headed over. Angus MacDonald blocked a shot from Deeney with the Millers defence looking on as the ball fell to Chalobah who fired just wide. A minute to go in the first half saw Ismaila Sarr try to get a ball to Stipe Percia with only some good work from Michael Ihiekwe stopping the former Croatian U21 striker making it three-nil. This first forty-five minutes looked like big boys letting their little brothers take them on.

The Millers made their first change of the game at half-time with Jamie Lindsay making way for Matthew Olosunde. And it was a better start with Matt Crooks teeing up Kyle Vassell whose shot brought off a good save from Watford ‘keeper Ben Foster. It was Crooks again who won the ball in midfield and found Michael Smith but who shot from distance when Vassell looked to be in a better position and saw a Watford defender block. A Dan Barlaser free-kick flew into the box finding the head of Angus MacDonald who saw his header go just wide. A foul by Billy Jones brought the first yellow of the game on sixty-seven minutes which was followed by a number of substitutions with Will Hughes and Joao Pedro on for Tom Cleverley and Troy Deeney who caused the Millers problems in the first half while Rotherham sent on  Florian Jozefzoon for Billy Jones. Smith turned provider for the next Rotherham attack getting the ball to Crooks who put another shot over the crossbar. Michael Ihiekwe was the next to see yellow for a foul, which looked a little harsh. More changes for the Millers saw Trevor Clarke, Mickel Miller and Freddie Ladapo replace Barlaser, Smith and Vassell. A Ben Wiles corner found Ihiekwe who couldn’t control his header and saw it go wild before a handball from Clarke saw a Watford free-kick which found Stipe Percia who shot wide. Another change for the hosts saw James Garner come on for Ken Sema (it’s not bad when you can bring Maverick on is it (one for the oldies there!|)). Ben Wiles had a shot from outside the box which went wide before the off-side flag came to Rotherham’s rescue a couple of times. As the board went up for four extra minutes Kiko Femenia and Ismaila Sarr went off for the hosts seeing Be Wilmot and  Domingos Quina enter the field. Wiles won a free-kick which saw Crooks head on to Ihiekwe but the Millers skipper saw his shot blocked. With Watford winning a free-kick and taking an age to take it the referee blew for full-time.

Well after a very disappointing first half the Millers did put up a fight in the second half and had shots at goal none of which, unfortunately, went in. I think while we all have a moan and groan about another loss we have to remember a couple of things – firstly we were playing a team of mostly Premier League players and secondly we kept them at bay for quite a lot of the second half by attacking. We need to do more than that.