Everton 2-1 Watford

Last updated : 22 August 2006 By Les Roberts
Which made for a bit of an unconventional matchday experience.

Instead of parking up at 1pm and making our way to the ground via the Thomas Frost and the chippy by The Netley, we were in the ground by 2pm and were taking pictures of LJ (Leslie Junior - don't laugh!) as he looked suitablty non-plussed sitting in my seat in the Park End.

So if you saw three fellas walking a baby up and down the Park End steps on Saturday then that was me, my dad and my mate Stu.


































After taking a few snaps and generally looking like the sort of Scandanavian tourists that you see milling about Church Street at 9am when Liverpool are at home, it was down to the concourse underneath the stand to see just how super-chilled this new fangled Chang really is.

It was cold, it was wet and it was Chang...so not really worth the three quid and 10 minute wait in the 'beer express' queue!

There was a club spokesman on Radio Merseyside during the summer talking about how officials at the club want to try and change the culture of the five to three walk up to the ground and have everyone in their seats 15 minutes before kick-off.

He was then waxing lyrical about how the catering has changed and the facilities inside the ground will be vastly improved on previous years.

On Saturday's evidence it appears that they've just introduced a ridiculously large pie onto the menu and cooled the beer down a bit.

It's still all over-priced and the kiosks are under-manned and the club will have to do a lot better than that if they want us out of the pub and into the ground!

Oh yeah, and the mystery spokesman was also saying how the club will be identfying those fans that get into the ground after 2.45pm and will be looking to target them to change their behavoiur.

So if you haven't clocked in 15 minutes before kick-off then expect to be force-fed a massive pie and a cold pint at the next match!

Anyway, after LJ had tried to swipe my pint a few times it was off to our seats to listen to z-cars and see the teams run out for the new season.

It looked to be a full house, apart from that corporate bit in the corner of the main stand that never gets full, but Watford had a shocking turn out for their return to the top flight as they could only fill the bottom bit of the Bullens.

The game was basically spent with me and my dad juggling LJ between us and keeping him occupied with a combination of bottles of water and Milkybar Buttons.

The Blues didn't look too impressive but neither, for that matter, did Watford.

The Watford players did look massive though and, last season, they did play a very direct and physical game.

If they can do the same this season then there's a good chance they'll roll over a few teams and could well stay up.

The Blues made the breakthrough just after a quarter of an hour when good link up play between James Beattie and Andy Johnson saw the latter clip a dipping volley off the chest of a Watford defender and over Ben Foster and into the Park End goal.

My dad had hold of LJ at this point and, as the ball screamed in, I had to jump in front of him and cheer to make sure he never got completely freaked out by all the noise...that's to make sure LJ never got freaked out not my dad!

LJ actually seemed the enjoy the game and was constantly looking around the strange place we call home every other week.

In fact, the only time he got upset was when Arteta hit the bar from a free kick and then Cahill headed against a post from an Arteta centre, but then that's perfectly understandable.

We had to bail at half time as it was back to our house for a party to celebrate LJ's birthday.

So, after walking him around the Park End concourse for a few minutes, it was photo's with the statue of William Ralph and then back to the car.

As I said, it was a bit of an unconventional matchday for us but certainly one of the most enjoyable.

LJ won't remember his first game but I'll make sure that he never forgets it!

And, in lieu of a proper match report, the stats from Saturday are below...