AFC Bournemouth
Programme contributor Mark Mitchener takes a historical look at Bournemouth’s previous visits to particular away venues. Have they been happy hunting grounds – or fortresses the Cherries have failed to conquer?
VICARAGE ROAD
CHERRIES RECORD AT VICARAGE ROAD (includes one “neutral” game v Colchester, excludes one “neutral” game v Watford at Swindon) – Played 60, Won 16, Drawn 18, Lost 26, Goals for 59, Goals against 83.
Bournemouth have played Watford in league football more times than any other club (this Saturday’s meeting being the 110th) – so the sides unsurprisingly share a rich history of encounters.
The current Watford club traces its origins back to the late 19th century when Watford Rovers (formed 1881) changed their name to West Hertfordshire before merging with Watford St Mary’s in 1898 to form Watford Football Club.
They joined the Football League in 1920, two years before leaving their Cassio Road ground for their current Vicarage Road home – which became only the second League ground the Cherries visited in 1923, earning a first away point with a 0-0 draw.
A first away win at “the Vic” came as early as 1926, and the two clubs played each other in every remaining season of the Third Division (South) until the divisions were reorganised after the 1957/58 season when Bournemouth (who finished ninth) went into the new Third Division, while Watford (16th) were placed in the Fourth.
Watford, now known as the Hornets after a switch of colours (see “Getting Shirty” below), were promoted to the Third in 1960, paving the way for them to see a lot of Bournemouth in the decade that followed (which included manager Bill McGarry leaving Dean Court for Watford in 1963), no more so than 1967/68 when as well as two league meetings (both won by the away team), the Cherries and Hornets were paired in the League Cup for the first time.
John Hold’s goal gave Bournemouth a 1-1 draw in the original tie at Dean Court, and not even extra time could prevent a goalless replay at Vicarage Road a week later. So, as was the tradition, a second replay was played – and in those days, a neutral venue was selected. Hold was on target again, but Watford ran out 2-1 winners at the unusual venue of Swindon Town’s County Ground.
The favour was returned, in a manner of speaking, a decade later when Bournemouth and Colchester played out two draws in the FA Cup first round – so a second replay was staged at Vicarage Road, with the U’s triumphing 4-1.
But that Colchester tie in December 1977 proved to be Bournemouth’s last visit to the Hertfordshire venue for 11 years. Watford won the Fourth Division title that season, and under chairman Elton John and manager Graham Taylor (who now both have stands named after them at Vicarage Road), they rocketed into the top flight by 1982, and did not meet the Cherries again until they were relegated to the old Second Division in 1988.
Bournemouth had struggled to win at Vicarage Road in that era, going eight visits without a win between 1974 and 1995, but finally broke the sequence in the “receivership” season of 1996/97 when Ian Cox had an uncanny knack of getting on the end of Jamie Vincent’s set-pieces for a 1-0 win over a Watford side who had not lost at home in the league for seven months.
There was a sombre atmosphere for Bournemouth’s first visit of the 21st century for a League Cup first-round tie in 2003, which was Watford’s first game after the death of on-loan winger Jimmy Davis in a car crash. The Hornets won with a goal deep in extra time, while a colour clash meant an unusual goalkeeping shirt was worn (see “Getting Shirty” below).
More recently, there have been some fiercely contested encounters in the Championship and Premier League – Watford romping to a 6-1 win in the second tier in 2013. The Cherries enjoyed a modicum of revenge with a 4-0 success in 2018 (see “Classic Matches” below), and indeed are currently on a run of seven visits to Vicarage Road without defeat since 2014 – although apart from that 4-0, all the other six games have been draws.
As well as staging greyhound racing alongside football for many years, Vicarage Road also had rugby union side Saracens as tenants between 1997 and 2013.
A VISITING STAT
As well as having played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, Watford defender Steve Palmer completed an astonishing feat in the 1997/98 season – and the last home game of the season, against Bournemouth, featured its most unusual moment.
With compulsory squad numbers still a year away from implementation in the Football League it became clear towards the end of the season that Palmer had worn nearly all of the available numbers – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and substitute numbers 12, 13 and 14.
So a plot was hatched. Palmer was named as Watford’s starting goalkeeper against Bournemouth, wearing the number one shirt, with regular keeper Alec Chamberlain given an outfield number (4). Watford kicked off the match by thumping the ball high over the left touchline for a throw-in – at which point (as permitted by the laws of football), Palmer and Chamberlain swapped shirts and resumed their regular positions.
How aware the Cherries were of this plan, is not recorded. Palmer then wore number nine in Watford’s final away game at Fulham to complete the 1-14 “set”.
All-time Bournemouth leading goalscorer Ronnie Eyre is their top marksman at Vicarage Road with five, ahead of Joshua King (four) and Billy Lunn (three).
GETTING SHIRTY
Watford have played in a number of different colours over the years – wearing black and white stripes for a decade in the early 20th century, before switching to blue shirts and white shorts in the 1920s, making a bold switch to gold shirts and black shorts in 1959 (and adopting the “Hornets” nickname), before adopting their current colours of yellow, black and red – which they have worn in varying combinations since the mid-1970s.
Their preferred colour palette has often forced Bournemouth to wear away kits at Vicarage Road, or to mix and match, as they did in October 2019 – pairing their red and black home shirts with alternate white shorts and socks.
But the most unusual kit clash came in the aforementioned League Cup tie in 2003. Watford’s yellow shirts, black shorts and socks meant the Cherries switched to their all-sky blue away strip, though this presented a problem for goalkeeper Neil Moss, whose two goalkeeping shirt options at that early stage of the season were yellow or light blue – both of which would clash with outfield players.
So, the Cherries custodian kept goal at Vicarage Road that night in a short-sleeved black Bournemouth polo shirt (as then available in the club shop), without a sponsor logo, name or number!
FIRSTS AND LASTS
The final game of the 1927/28 season at Watford was a last Cherries hurrah for early Bournemouth star Jimmy Blair senior, as well as team-mates Jock Robson, David Baynham, Frank Taylor and Jim Buchanan. Five years later, there was a final-day farewell to three “W’s” in the forward line – Willie Webb, Jack Whitehouse and Len Williams.
Also making their final appearance there were Alfie White (scoring in his last game in 1936), Harry Mardon (1938), Franck Rolling (1998), Donal McDermott (2013) and Glenn Murray (2016).
Among the more notable players to make their Bournemouth debuts at Vicarage Road were goalkeepers David Best (1961) and Artur Boruc (2014), a certain Harry Redknapp (1972) and defender John Impey (1975).
Also debuting at the same venue were Sam Robinson (1930), Alf Hooton (1936), Ken Holland (1948), Bob Hardy (1952), Dennis Bushby (1957), Rod Taylor and John Hold (1966), while Jack Flaherty made his only Cherries appearance at Vicarage Road in 1936.
CLASSIC MATCH
Saturday 6 October 2018 – Premier League
Watford 0-4 Bournemouth
Bournemouth had started 2018/19 with a bang, winning six of their first nine league and cup encounters, scoring an average of three goals a game, and were sitting pretty in seventh place after seven Premier League matches.
But Eddie Howe’s side trailed Watford on goal difference as they headed to Vicarage Road, where they had come away with draws on their last four visits, for the ground’s 100th Premier League game.
In driving rain, the Cherries went ahead after less than a quarter of an hour with a swift counter-attack as Ryan Fraser released Joshua King down the left, the Norwegian drove in a cross, Callum Wilson’s far-post effort was brilliantly parried by Ben Foster but the ball fell kindly for David Brooks, who lashed in his second Premier League goal in successive games.
Watford did win a number of corners, with Craig Cathcart heading wide from one of them, but Bournemouth had the chance of a second just after the half-hour when Christian Kabasele, who had already been booked, brought down King in the box and referee Jonathan Moss not only pointed to the penalty spot, but showed Kabasele a second yellow card.
King made no mistake with his third penalty of the season – and second successive spot-kick at Vicarage Road – sending Foster the wrong way for 2-0. A defensive reshuffle for the Hornets meant midfielder Etienne Capoue took Kabasele’s place at centre-back.
Cathcart then nearly scored at the wrong end before another move down the left bore fruit for the Cherries, with Wilson crossing for King to lose his marker Cathcart at the far post and head in his second of the game in first-half stoppage time.
The away fans were cheering every Bournemouth touch by the time a fourth was added less than two minutes into the second period.
The “oles” continued as left-back Adam Smith found his winger Fraser in plenty of space, and after the Scot crossed, the 10 men of Watford gave Wilson the freedom of the penalty box to lift the ball over the advancing Foster and then tap it in from point-blank range.
Home skipper Troy Deeney was clearly not happy with Capoue’s makeshift defending for the Wilson goal, and Hornets boss Javi Gracia soon made a double substitution, bringing on a more orthodox centre-back in Adrian Mariappa in place of midfielder Will Hughes, but the damage had been done.
While there were no more goals, Bournemouth kept the pressure on with ex-Watford loanee Nathan Ake going close to scoring against his former club while playing a starring role at the back to keep a clean sheet.
Just about the only thing the home fans had to cheer was a late yellow card shown to Cherries substitute Andrew Surman, though three Watford players also ended up in referee Moss’s notebook.
“Watford made it difficult, even with 10 men, but we were professional,” said Howe after his side climbed to the heady heights of fifth place.
“We believe we are capable of beating anyone when we are at the top of our game.”
Cherries: Begovic, Francis, S Cook, Ake, A Smith, Brooks (Gosling 70), L Cook (Surman 78), Lerma, Fraser (Stanislas 66), Wilson, King. Subs not used: Rico, Ibe, Defoe, Boruc.
VERDICT
Despite the odd hammering like the 6-1 in 2013, and that winless run towards the end of the 20th century, Bournemouth’s record at Watford is surprisingly no worse than at plenty of other grounds. So not really a “ground for complaint” – with an impressive current streak of seven games without defeat.
