Watford started Q1 in a composed manner and were ahead with only 45 seconds on the clock via Sam Wood, Josh Pender, leading by example from the back, picked off a wonderful interception in the pit & then converted a penalty. He continued his fine work as the lone defender in a 2 v 1 coming away with the ball.

The referee then stopped play to address a suspected bleeding and on returning to poolside, I found 3 players in the corner and a penalty conceded! The quarter ended 2-1 in our favour.

Caught cold at the start of Q2, Watford conceded an early equaliser, this stirred the team and 3 well taken goals from Josh, Bailey Sapsed and Sam Wood put us in a 5-3 lead with just over 3 mins of the quarter to go.

It was at this point, the game turned in Birmingham’s favour. They scored 3 unanswered
goals and Watford fell behind for the first time at the end of Q2.

Although pulling level early on in Q3, a debated exclusion would see one of our strongest players sitting out for the remainder of the game. Watford began to stutter, missed a penalty and ended the quarter frustrated and 2 goals behind.

Conceding early at the start of Q4 to trail 9-6, a flurry of further exclusions followed and two further players saw their game time wrap up early.

Luca Roberts pulled one back with his second of the day before Watford were to see their fourth player sit out for the final minutes of the match. Now with no available subs, the remaining seven gathered themselves for the final charge. Luca completed a second half hat trick and it was back to one goal with the final seconds remaining.

With the clock against them, Watford could not find the equaliser. It is safe to say we ALL learnt some lessons from the match and will come back stronger for the rearranged ‘Tuesday night lights’ fixture against Northampton on Tuesday 28th November at HABS.