AFC Wimbledon 3-2 Watford

By Andy Lewers, Digital Editor, Tales From

Marco Silva's first game in charge of Watford ended in defeat, as the Hornets travelled to Kingsmeadow to take on AFC Wimbledon for the Football Manager Cup.
As the teams warmed up Silva was in deep conversation with Dons manager (and ex-Hornet) Neal Ardley, whilst the fans congregating on the terrace warmed up their vocal chords with songs about the new manager before a rendition of "Berghuis, in the middle of our street!" brought a smile from the Dutch midfielder as he was warming up close by.
Donning the new away kit for the first time, Watford fielded a starting XI that featured none of the new signings, due to a combination of injuries and extended breaks for Hughes and Chalobah, following their trips away with the England Under 21s.

Watford had the better of the possession in the opening exchanges and Isaac Success came close to an opener as he cut inside from the left and struck a shot towards goal, but his effort was blocked by Robinson.

The Wombles had the best chance of the half after 16 minutes. As a corner was whipped in, Taylor was unmarked and directed a header towards goal. Luckily for the 'Orns the ball rebounded off the post to safety.

Watford had a few more chances before the half time whistle, most notably Britos who lept like the cliched salmon to meet a Watson corner, but Long in the Dons' goal produced a fine save, which turned out to be a recurring theme throughout the afternoon.
Blink and you'll miss it seems an appropriate phrase for the start of the second half. The official Watford Twitter account hadn't even sent out a tweet saying the second half had kicked off before Wimbledon took the lead straight from the restart.

The Dons took advantage of some lazy defending and a cross from the right hand side was converted by McDonald.

What's worse than conceding one goal immediately after the restart? Conceding two. Within the space of two minutes Wimbledon had doubled their lead. A mix up at the back allowed Wimbledon to pounce and McDonald was in the right place, right time again.

Watford however responded positively and puled a goal back eight minutes later. A run from Holebas into the box gave him the space to pull the ball back and Watson finished via a slight deflection.

The 'Orns pushed for an equaliser. Capoue hit a shot wide, Amrabat had a close range effort superbly smothered by Long before Berghuis agonisingly watched his header bounce inches wide of the post.

The away side's pressure paid off eventually however. Another run down the wing and a ball pulled back into the box, this time from Dja Djedje, was finished by the lively Berghuis. Cue more renditions of Madness from the terrace.

The game wasn't over though and new goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann did brilliantly to block a shot from Appiah when the striker was played through one-on-one.

Watford and late goals go hand-in-hand however and it was the Dons who snatched it at the death. As Watford failed to clear the ball it fell kindly to Egan, who placed it into the bottom corner to seal the win shortly before the full time whistle.
On the whole, this was an entertaining affair. Watford played some good football going forwards as Berghuis and Watson stood out having not played in Watford colours for a while. 

Defensively however it's fair to say that work is needed, but it's not something we should lose sleep over after our first game of pre-season.

As you would expect with Watford fans, they took to Marco Silva immediately and sang his name throughout the match, even though he didn't wave when prompted by the fans behind the dug out!

From 0-0 at half time to 2-0 down three minutes into the second half, to pulling it back to 2-2 only to lose it in the final minute. Football and Watford are officially back and I can't wait for the madness of another Premier League season to begin again.