Grrr
By Ian Grant
Following torrential rain that drenched anyone walking to the ground after two o'clock, the Hornets'
game with Burnley was called off due a waterlogged pitch. Initially, kickoff was delayed by fifteen
minutes in the hope that the water would drain from the playing surface. However, that hope rapidly expired
as the rain continued. The referee's decision is not improved by hindsight, since the rain had stopped by the
time the disgruntled fans had made their way out and it did not resume during the rest of the afternoon.
Not much else to report, really. You can imagine my feelings on the subject, although
plenty of others, including the visiting fans, had come from further afield than Brighton.
Perhaps the one interesting feature of the postponement is to be found in the Watford line-up. For the
first time in over a hundred games, Steve Palmer was not in the starting eleven. Instead, Graham Taylor
chose to go for a midfield based around Micah Hyde and Allan Nielsen in the centre, with Nordin Wooter
and Tommy Mooney on the flanks. It would've been a fascinating experiment.
However, I wonder whether the manager will be quite so bold when we travel to Bolton and Palace. Perhaps
Palmer's run of appearances will continue after all....
