Whereas last weeks defeat marked the end of the honeymoon period for Paul Jewell, Tuesday nights result signified that Paul Jewell is now officially taking charge of a side on a “bad run”.
Jewells side have now recorded just one point from four home matches, contributing two goals over the course of those matches. Whilst away results have been improved, the club have now recorded a single win in seven matches.
At this stage of the season, with the clubs position in the Championship appearing relatively safe, the results themselves are relatively unimportant, but it is the level of performance which has now become of prime concern.
After the match, Paul Jewell echoed the sentiments which poured from the stands after a woeful performance against The Hornets. Jewell said “What disappoints me is that when things don’t go our way, too many people are hiding; we lose confidence too quickly. We’ve got to get more inner belief and a bit more steely determination about ourselves. When it’s not going well, grind something out. We ground something out at Leeds, we got a great result at Cardiff, but that’s typical of our season - one week we’re good, the next week we’re poor.”
There was instant disappointment for the home fans before kick off when Kieron Dyers fitness was judged to be insufficient to justify a starting role. Elsewhere, Mark Kennedy returned to the side at left-back, in place of Darren O’Dea.
It took all of two minutes for Town to give an indication of the kind of night which was about to follow. A Watford corner found their leading goalscorer Danny Graham inexplicably unmarked at the far post. It marked Grahams 24th strike of the season. The goal itself represented a catalogue of errors, from the cheap corner given away by Kennedy, the quick corner routine not picked up, again by Kennedy and the failure of Carlos Edwards to pick up Graham from the resulting cross, something which the right-back might reasonably have expected his goalkeeper to claim instead.
Town briefly rallied, creating two good opportunities from set pieces. Firstly, an audacious free-kick from all of 30 yards from Bullard skimmed the top of the bar.
Shortly afterwards, a McAuley header from a deep free-kick came back off the foot of the Watford goalpost, with a series of Town players all failing to make the right connection to put the rebound into the net.
But it amounted to Towns closest efforts on goal in the entire match.
At the interval, Town had dominated much of the possession, but on the balance of chances could quite conceivably have been further behind.
The second half saw a rapid deterioration from Towns perspective. The half began so poorly, that Jewell only took five minutes before throwing Dyer onto the pitch, the former Town player getting the biggest cheer of the night at a misty Portman Road.
On the hour, some neat but unproductive passing from the Town midfield was rudely interrupted by a Jenkins challenge on Bullard. Whilst those in blue appealed for a free kick, Watford broke forward and a fine finish from Graham put the game to rest.
The result was complete in the closing minutes as Delaney mis-controlled a Watford ball forward, allowing Cowie to blast home.
It left a scoreline that didn’t really flatter a solid Watford side. The away side finished their chances clinically when they emerged, whilst being happy to work hard and protect their goal from the minimal threat that Town were able to impose.
In the centre of the pitch, town controlled much of the game with Bullard once again pulling strings. Dyer again showed fleeting moments of class, including one run from his own half, in which the midfielder moved at a pace reminiscent of the runs which were common-place during his previous spell at the club. Elsewhere, Andy Drury put in an energetic shift with some neat touches to emphasise that he may develop at this level.
However, as against Reading the previous week, the main issues were at both ends of the pitch. Paul Jewell is gladly picking up the baton from his predecessor in bemoaning the lack of finishing instinct in the penalty area, whilst at the other end Jewell is also rapidly being introduced to the defensive failings which left Roy Keane distraught on occasions.
Whilst the flowing attacking performances of a month ago are seemingly less willing to emerge, there is a worrying frailty at the other end of the pitch which is proving extremely costly when chances are at a premium at the other end. Towns last three home matches have seen eight goals conceded, giving little opportunity of a positive result with such a dearth of goalscoring.
After two clean-sheets away to both Cardiff and Leeds, the fluctuating fortunes of his defensive corps is of concern to Jewell “I just don’t know what I’m going to get out of the players week-in, week-out, at the minute. We’re up and down far too much. We’ve got to get a level of consistency that’s acceptable and the last few games haven’t been acceptable- both the performances and the results.”
On Saturday, Town have just the opportunity to try and recover some composure and prevent the losing run extending to four matches. The visit of Scunthorpe United presents opposition who now find themselves managerless and entrenched in the bottom three. Whilst Jewell may look to make changes to personnel, with David Norris once again available, it is perhaps within his players heads that Jewell will need to have the biggest impact.
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