I walked into the Vic to the sound of 'Teenage Kicks' and feared this was some comment on the team we were putting out. I was even more concerned to see some tiny kids milling around by the tunnel in their Watford kits and assumed this was the bench. But actually the team we put out was pretty standard apart from the lack of expensive Premiership loanees.
However it was a poor standard that looked much more League 1 than Championship. It shows how much we've come to rely on the young stars of the division above. If you strip them away and throw in a couple of injuries then we're very very average. Plymouth were worse. They didn't go into the game looking like they believed they had any chance of avoiding the drop, although maybe that's fair enough considering they've still got Newcastle and Forest to come.
But its concerning that we just beat them and nothing more. This wasn't a performance to warm the heart. It wasn't anything like West Brom. We had a couple of good chances which we failed to score from, Graham hiting the post and H shooting over from a couple of yards out, but had to rely on a rather ridiculous goal which was handed to H when a Plymouth defender failed to clear.
Scott Loach had very little to do all afternoon, partly because the excellent Dale Bennett was so good at ensuring the Plymouth attack never got a proper sight on goal. He looks like he's going to steal the young player of the year crown from Lee Hodson when he's played far fewer games. Hodson was okay, but not as self assured as he'd been earlier in the season. DeMerit and Mariappa did fine but then you'd expect that against a side so bad.
The midfield was far more obvious than usual in its attempts to feed the ball up to H and Danny Graham. For some of the afternoon you might have thought Hoofers was back in charge. Eustace continued to excel in his role as winder up in chief, Jenkins display won't keep Lansbury out of the side once his suspension is over. McGinn looks like he's got potential. I used to think that about Cowie but anything he brings to the team seems to evaporate the moment he is either challenged, or has to make a challenge.
Danny Graham had his best game for a while. He might not be our 20 goal a game striker but his work rate is exceptional. He didn't stop running all afternoon and rightly kept pressuring the dodgy looking Plymouth keeper. H, however, just looks tired. It was great he scored but there were times when he lost the ball and didn't bother to try and win it back again. He doesn't look himself and the end of the season probably can't come quick enough for him. I don't think it will be long before he's joining the likes of Mooney in the 3CR commentary box.
Malky could be critisized for not making substitutions again, but possibly this was because of the injury/suspension situation. H came off after about 80 minutes to be replaced by Liam Henderson. Despite his recent hat-trick in the reserves he still doesn't look ready to be challenging for a regular first team place, which makes me wonder how bad Ryan Noble must be.
It would be very dangerous for us to go away from this game thinking everything will be okay now, even though all the results went for us. We'll need to improve massively if we're to get anything from Leicester, QPR, Reading and Coventry. Luckily Lansbury will be back but we need more West Brom type displays from the rest if they don't want to risk playing Plymouth again next season.
