Watford

Watford v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Vicarage Road

Tuesday 8^th November 2022

7:45pm

Journey Time to the ground: 1 hour 50 minutes.  We left home just before 4:30pm and despite a broken-down vehicle blocking a lane on the M25 parked up at 6:20pm.  We parked in Scammell Way which was a 15-minute walk from Vicarage Road.

Ticket Price: £20

Programme Price: £3.50

Attendance: 18,847 with 1,934 Reading fans.

This was my third or fourth visit to Vicarage Road, can't quite remember how many times I've been before!  We had arrived in good time so headed into Watford town centre and went to The Moon Under Water for dinner and to tick off another Weatherspoon's!  We headed back to the ground and had a look at the club shop before making our way into the ground.  We had tickets in the away end, the Vicarage Road Stand.  This a single-tiered all-seater stand that is shared with home fans.  The view from midway up the stand was very good and the leg room was comfortable. 

To the left of the Vicarage Road Stand is the Sir Elton John Stand.  This Sir Elton John Stand is a single-tiered all-seater stand which is the main stand at Vicarage Road and houses the team-dugs at its front.  Opposite the Vicarage Road Stand is the Rookery Stand, another single-tiered all-seater stand where the most vociferous Watford fans seemed to congregate.  To the right of the Vicarage Road Stand is the Graham Taylor Stand.  This is a two-tiered all seater stand and the largest at Vicarage Road.  Due to the way the ground is sunk into a hill, the ground is a lot bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside!

After a couple of decent away performances I travelled in anticipation that we could pick up at least a point however the first-half was only 15 minutes old when Watford took the lead from the penalty spot, Joao Pedro converting after he had been hauled down by Ovie Ejaria. 

Watford continued to dominate the game in the second-half but it took until three minutes from time for the Hornets to double their lead, Pedro getting his second of the night on the volley after sub goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis was only able to parry Ismaila Sarr's initial effort.  All in all it had been a pretty insipid performance from Reading.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was pretty poor.  The Watford fans weren't very loud, despite the fact they won the game quite comfortably and although there was a large away following, the atmosphere in the away end was the worst I've experienced in a very long time.

Journey Time home: 1 hour 20 minutes.  We got back to the car at 10:10pm and had a clear run home, arriving at 11:30pm after a stop at McDonalds to grab some more food on the way!

I did enjoy my trip to Vicarage Road as it's a decent ground in a good location and is quick and easy to get to from Reading, although it wasn't the best performance from Reading and the atmosphere was lacking.