Today I'm going back 26 years to 1997 and the rare visit by York City to Watford's Vicarage Road. The game was a Football League fixture in what was then known as the Second Division but it was the equivalent of what is called League 1 today or the Third Division in old money. Confused? Well that's one of the reasons why I despise this kind of rebranding that goes on in the quest to keep "the product" fresh and exciting. Suffice to say that Watford and York have seldom found themselves to be in the same division so this game had an air of novelty about it and that was fresh and exciting enough for me and the 7,644 others who attended.
Going into the game, Watford had failed to register a goal in any of their four previous outings but you would never have guessed it as they proceeded to score three before the half-time break through goals by Craig Ramage (2) and Tommy Mooney. With the game already gone, it was a case of damage limitation for City and they managed to limit Watford to just one further goal which was scored just three minutes before the end of normal time by Clint Easton ("Go ahead York, make my day").
The match highlights (attached to my blog) reveal a fine performance from Watford's Nigel Gibbs, a one-club man for Watford between 1983-2002. In his post playing career Gibbs has filled a number of supporting roles on the coaching side of the game including spells at Spurs and Leeds United. Gibbs also took on the role of backing singer to Elton John during one of Watford's post season tours and he's "Still Standing".
Watford finished the season in the lower half of the table (in 13th place to be precise) whilst the Minstermen finished in safety but just one place above the relegated bottom four. Promoted from League 2 that season were Champions Bury along with runners-up Stockport County whilst Crewe Alexandra took the third promotion place via the end-of-season Play-Offs. The four demoted sides were Peterborough United, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United and Notts County. I found myself back at Vicarage Road just four days after this game to witness the FA Trophy Semi-Final Replay between Stevenage Borough and Woking. That, as they say, is another story however.
CRB Match No. 1106
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