This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Watford

        Home                     Away
82-83    0-1                     1-0 (Falco)
83-84    2-3                     3-2 (Hughton, Hoddle,
         (Hughton Hoddle [pen])       Archibald)
84-85    1-5 (Hoddle [pen])      2-1 (Falco Crooks)
85-86    4-0                     0-1
         (Waddle 2 Falco P Allen)
86-87    2-1 (Gough, Hoddle)     0-1
87-88    2-1 (C Allen, Moran)    1-1 (C Allen [pen])

Football Lge   Pl  W  D  L   For-Ag  Pts
Home (Div 1)    6  3  0  3    11-11   9
Away (Div 1)    6  3  1  2     7- 6  10
=======================================
Total(Div 1)   12  6  1  5    16-17  19
=======================================

FA Cup ties

1894-95 1Q  H  3-2     Hunter, Goodall 2 
                       *Watford as West Herts
1921-22 2   H  1-0     Bliss
1938-39 3   H  7-1     Miller 2, GW Hall 2, 
                       Duncan, Sargent, Ward (pen)
1986-87 SF VP  4-1     C Allen, P Allen, Hodge 2

FL Cup ties

75-76 2     A  1-0     Chris Jones
94-95 2/1   A  6-3     Klinsmann 3, Anderton, Dumitrescu,
                       Sheringham
      2/2   H  2-3     Barmby, Klinsmann

This is our fifth encounter with Watford in the FA Cup. Tottenham's first ever cup tie in the FA Cup, which took place even before Spurs had joined the Southern League, was against one of Watford's predecessor sides. The club was originally founded as Watford Rovers, in 1881, the year before Tottenham. They changed their name to West Herts in 1893 and did not adopt their present name until 1898.

Our cup tie was played at the old Northumberland Park ground on October 13 1894. Peter Hunter scored our first goal in the competition and Donald Goodall added two more to ensure we won 3-2 in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

Our next clash was not until 1922 by which time Watford had joined the Football League. Bert Bliss scored the only goal of the game as we defended the Cup.

The 1939 clash was an interesting one historically because Spurs and Watford both wore numbered 1 to 11 shirts for the first time. There had been a Cup Final played between Manchester City and Everton a few years earlier but that had only been an experiment.

The fourth tie came at the Semi-Final stage of the 1986-87 competition, which is one success few Spurs fans are really keen to remember because of the result of the Final, which I will not mention here! Of the side that played for us that day only Mitchell Thomas, with Luton, and, to a lesser extent, Chris Waddle (roaming in the lower leagues) are still playing. Only Kevin Richardson and John Barnes from the Watford side were still playing last season but neither have been regulars this season for their respective clubs.

As we have played so few League matches against Watford, I have set out the full sequence above. Everyone should remember Hoddle's goal at Watford in 1982-83. It is still recalled today from time to time when discussing the genius called Glenn Hoddle. He was out on the right wing, dummied to go one way, went the other and floated the ball over a startled Sherwood into the Watford goal. Sherwood quickly back-pedalled but could not retrieve the situation in time. That was probably the best goal I had seen since Villa's remarkable Cup Final goal and only surpassed by Gazza's strike at Wembley in 1991.

It was uncanny how we managed to perform so well at Watford yet were completely rubbish when we played them at home. I shall not dwell on our 5-1 thrashing for very long. Suffice to say this competes with one or two other matches I have seen for the all-time worst Spurs performance. There were one or two players that day who should have been taken out and quietly shot.

The FA Cup being what it is, there is no guarantee we will win on Saturday. One only has to recall games at Bradford City, Port Vale and for the older fans here York City and Norwich City in the '50s to know it will not be a walkover. We should win but we must never under estimate Watford.

Hopefully, I'll hear we have won 3-0 (fingers crossed) and hope for a kinder 4th Round draw than some we have had in the past. And then I'll tune into Sky on Monday night in the hope that Preston can dish out to Arsenal the sort of performance they provided against us in 1966. I was at a reserve team game that afternoon and we heard Greaves had put us ahead at Preston but we then proceeded to blow it.

Cheers, Brian

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