Blues’ last-minute defaat at Watford leaves Andy Munro deflated.
In truth, there was little in this match and if Lee Buchanan hadn’t been sent off in the final minutes of normal time Blues might have hung on for a point. In fact, before Watford scored Scott Hogan had a golden chance to put us in the lead but spurned the opportunity.
In fairness, this was a reality check as Watford are in a false position, with a talented squad still living off Premier League fat. They had the lion’s share of position and more shots so probably deserved to shade it. Perhaps that wasn’t a surprise given our appalling record at Vicarage Road but it’s still a disappointment after such a good start to the season.
However, there were still positives with Jay Stansfield still a real danger man, Keshi Andersen putting in the hard yards and Krystian Bielik and Ivan Sunjic battling effectively in midfield in front of a solid defence. Solid, that is, until we lost Buchanan.
Was the balance right? Maybe not and maybe it might be worth playing Stansfield and Olivr Burke up front then bringing in an extra genuine midfielder in the shape of either Jordan James or Juninho Bacuna to bolster that department. How we bounce back against top of the table Preston will be the real test for manager John Eustace, who might start to feel some heat unless we pick up three points from the next two matches. Currently, it’s a case of not panicking, but we need to keep on our footballing toes.
