Watford (H) - Saturday 17th July (ko 3pm)

[Daedalus]

Watford will be the second pre-season opponents for the Saints at Clarence Park on Saturday. Here is what the Watford website has to say about the match:

THE Hornets continue their 2010/11 pre-season campaign with a trip to St Albans FC this Saturday (17 July).

Malky Mackay's men successfully overcame Conference South side Boreham Wood 5-0 last weekend with an encouraging display at Meadow Park.

Striker Will Buckley kicked off his pre-season with his first hat-trick for the club with Danny Graham and Stephen McGinn also getting on the scoresheet.

New signing Tom Aldred missed out on the encounter with a calf strain while midfielder Ross Jenkins came off the field of play in the second half after a knock on his foot.

But a fully-fit squad should be available to Malky ahead of the game with St Albans with both players returning to training this week.

The Scotsman gave 20 players a run-out in the 30 degree heat at Meadow Park and a similar rotation strategy is expected for tomorrow's game as the backroom staff look to assess the squad ahead of the first game of the season on Friday 6 August at Norwich City.

A full match report will appear at www.watfordfc.com on Saturday.

www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~2092698,00.html

[Daedalus]

Watford's line-up in the their recent friendly against Boreham Wood (on Monday) was:

Starting XI: Loach; Thompson, Hodson, Taylor, Oshodi, Bryan, McGinn (17), Buckley (10, 13, 41), Graham (15), Mingoia.

Second-half team: Gilmartin, Doyley, Hodson, Mariappa, Kiernan, Bennett, Cowie, Jenkins, Whichelow, Henderson, Massey.

Watford won 5-0 thanks to goals from Buckley (10, 13, 41), Graham (15) and McGinn (17).

[Saint]

Who is the St Albans FC they speak of? There's only one St Albans club round here, and that's St Albans City.

[Daedalus]

Good point Saint!

Hopefully we will see a bigger crowd today and I've got my fingers crossed for a more entertaining contest.

Perhaps we will get to see a few players who didn't play yesterday, for instance Rob Magwood (who came on as a sub) and Ross Dedman (who didn't feature).

Does anyone know if Ben Martin is available for this one? I seem to remember reading that he wasn't available for last night's game (something to do with his knee perhaps?) My memory isn't so good at the moment.

It'll be interesting to see some more of the trialists and perhaps some of the youth players get some playing time. I have a feeling that we will be relying on signing up a few of these players to solve our lack of a goalscorer issue.

[Saint]

FT result: Saints 0-2 Watford.

On the whole, we played pretty well and did our selves proud.

ATT: 925.

[Daedalus]

I agree Saint. A much better performance.

I thought it wasn't a bad match for a pre-season friendly. Lost its way a little in the second-half after all of the substitutions but otherwise not bad.

We didn't give Watford an easy afternoon. The only downside is that we didn't have many chances of our own.

Here is the report by Anthony Matthews:

www.stalbansreview.co.uk/sport/8278325.St_Albans_City_suffer_Watford_defeat/?ref=rss

[Daedalus]

And the report on the Watford website: www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~2094963,00.html

[Daedalus]

Here was the team today with St. Albans City lining up in a 4-4-2 formation:

St Albans - Bastock; Climo (Wheeler 58), Peters (Urquhart 46), Frater (Mortimer 58), Smith (Chaves 46), Sinclair (Ahmed 46), Magwood (Baronet 58), Fisher (Davis 46), Kweme (Perrin 46), Effiong (Simpson 46), Roberts (Dixon 46).

Interesting to see that Scott Sinclair and Glodi Kweme (who started on the right and left flank respectively) switched sides during the first-half.

[COYS]

My brother went to school with Scott Sinclair, and he is apparently left-footed, but was described as a 'right sided midfielder' on the website - could be useful.

[Boomer]

We still have a huge problem up front and if we are going to achieve anything at all this coming season, it needs to be addressed. We have had this scenario for the two past seasons. I really don't want to see it happening again this season.

Does anyone know where Ross Dedman is? He doesn't appear to have played in either of the first two PSFs. Is he injured or on holiday? I feel this season is the season he and Rob Magwood will realise their potential.

[COYS]

I saw Ross Dedman today - he must be injured as he was at the game, as was Adam Everitt.

Our strikers can't be judged just yet - two performances, both against Football League opposition isn't a fair judgement of their abilities. Having said that, I haven't seen enough from Inih Effiong that suggests he's any better than I thought he was a year or so ago.

[sbsaint]

Sounds like a decent display, in front of a good crowd. I see the Watford FC website described us as very well drilled, kept a disciplined shape and difficult to break down which sounds encouraging, though it seems that up front we may struggle again. What is Simon Martin doing nowadays?

[COYS]

Last time I checked, I think he was playing at Slough, with the likes of Chris Seeby and Ricky Perks.

[Saint]

At times in the first half, I was encouraged to see some of the play between Effiong and Roberts, but remember, we were playing football league quality defences.

[Daedalus]

There is a good photograph on the Robert Walkley website of the team before the Watford game with names indicated at the top.

See here - www.rjwphotography.co.uk/photo5611291.html#photo

[sbsaint]

Pitch looks good in the photographs.

[Boomer]

I noticed Bill Chippington at the Watford game on Saturday. Following on from the Brian Clough film and documentary on BBC 2 last night, is Bill Chippington 'the greatest chairman that St. Albans City never had?'

A man of the people. A real gent.

[EFMTFTV]

Pushed out by Gibson... like the rest