Today I had the slightly weird experience of watching a live football match between two teams that meant nothing to me. The occasion was the 4th round FA Cup tie between Southampton and Watford at St Mary’s which happened to coincide with there being no Plymouth Argyle home game to watch and a younger daughter who needed to be taken back to university in Southampton after a quick trip home for my elder daughter’s birthday.
The game ought to have been significantly better quality than the usual League 1 fare I get to see, what with both teams being Premiership outfits but, in truth, it was a scrappy game and remarkably like watching an Argyle match. Southampton took the lead in the first couple of minutes, through an ex-Argyle player no less, and then despite being the better team, managed to sit back and allow Watford time to gradually build pressure, helped by somewhat bizarre, defensively minded, substitutions. I felt an equaliser was inevitable but Southampton held on. The home fans grumbled just like Argyle fans, well perhaps not quite that much, so I felt pretty much at home!
Tim O'Hare 