Watford kept ticking over by Big Ben’s saves
ASK Javi Gracia where you can find Big Ben and he will say Watford, rather than London. Indeed, Ben Foster is ticking along nicely at the ripe old age of 35.
No one has made more saves in the Premier League than Foster since football’s statisticians started gathering the data. At Brighton yesterday, he added four more to the pile.
Foster, like a shopkeeper closed for business, put the shutters up in front of his goal at the Amex Stadium. He was the difference between the draw and defeat for Watford.
‘The second half, when Brighton played better, it was the moment when he saved us,’ his boss Gracia said. ‘But it’s not a surprise.
‘It was nothing different, rent, nothing I didn’t know. There is no secret. Hard work every day, his mentality, his attitude every day, in every training session. He can play a long time.
‘He has had a brilliant career and now he is enjoying working with us day by y day, always with a smile le on his face, with very good d character. It’s good for the team.’
Chris Hughton, the Brighton manager, agreed. ‘It was a game we should have won, it was a game we deserved to win. We came up against a good goalkeeper who made three very, very good saves.’
This was Gracia’s 39th game in charge of Watford in the Premier League. No manager with the club had ever got past 38 previously.
It is a healthy sign that their sack-and-hire policy is a thing of the past, though this was a dull way to mark the milestone.
The Hornets managed zero shots on target over a largely forgettable 90 minutes for them in front of goal. Troy Deeney and Gerard Deulofeu were ghosts at the Amex Stadium.
Gracia said in his post-match press conference that his side were overwhelmingly poor offensively. He knew this would be propping up the Match Of The Day running order. It was in the 17th minute when we witnessed our first shot on- or off-target from either side — a Deeney header which flew wide. That turned out to be Watford’s only effort of the first half. Shortly before the break, a Jurgen Locadia header which was set for the top corner was denied d by Foster. The Dutch forward later la forced the England international into tipping over another effort. Foster also denied d Shane Duffy D from scoring sco an overhead kick as he slid to save with his hi legs. The Th other th highlight of the game came from Lewis Dunk. One melee inside Brighton’s six-yard box looked as though it might result in a goal, or at least a shot on target, but Dunk had other ideas. The Seagulls defender had fallen to the ground so decided to shield the ball using his face, denying Watford a rare chance to score. It brought back memories of John Terry diving head-first to stop Slovenia from scoring against England in 2010. With that, the game finished goalless, largely because Big Ben chimed again for Gracia.