Watford leapt into third round FA Cup action with five fresh faces in the wake of injuries and the return of loanees Jordon Mutch & Andrew Taylor.
Rene Gilmartin gave Scott Loach a rest, Piero Mingoria made his first team debut in place of the injured Don Cowie, Matthew Whichelow & Dale Bennett stepped in for Mutch & Taylor respectively, and Danny Graham got a rest for the the first half at least with Troy Deeney in as a starting striker.
The first half was about thirty minutes of slogging football followed by an increasing tilt in favor of Hartlepool, culminating in an Antony Sweeney goal for Hartlepool in the closing seconds of the first half.
The second half creaked along in the same vein until the one hour mark then it was all Hornets.
Only a spectacular save by Gilmartin kept Hartlepoole from going two up, but minutes later Mingoia scored his first career goal from 25 yards out in the 66th minute, evening up the score for Watford. Two minutes later, Marvin Sordell put the Hornets ahead with a right-footer from 20 yards out (asst. Whichelow).
"Score-dell" picked up his second goal, this time assisted by Dale Bennett in minute 83 and Danny Graham, off the bench, made it 4-1 in added time.
The club donated its share of the profits from the game to the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity, a Football League charity partner.
Draw for Round Four will be tomorrow. The next match will be Saturday, January 15 at Vicarage Road when Watford hosts Derby Co. Kickoff is 9:00 am St. Louis time.
No comments:
Post a Comment