Our look back at the most memorable moments from a century of Watford FC at Vicarage Road continues!
As we near the end of our year-long VR100 celebrations, a dedicated team of Watford-supporting experts on Hornets history have worked hard to draw up a list of The Vic’s 100 most memorable moments, from the opening game on August 30, 1922 right up until the VR100 Matchday on August 30, 2022.
Supporters have so-far voted on the first and second of four groups of 25 moments. Now, we’re asking you to vote on moments 51-75, which take us from the early 1990s, through the turn of the millennium and into the late noughties.
Read on for information on each moment, and then cast your vote to tell us which you believe to be the most memorable. Voting for this round closes at 5pm on Tuesday June 6.
The most popular moments once voting in all four sections has taken place will be put into a top 10, before one final round of voting to rank these cherished occasions in order.
A last hurrah for the old Vicarage Road terrace, second-tier Watford powered to a 2-1 victory over reigning English champions Leeds in the third round of the League Cup thanks to a David Holdsworth header, a Jason Drysdale penalty and a goalkeeping masterclass from Perry Suckling.
Costing approximately £2.3m, and with an original capacity of 5,800, the new Vicarage Road Stand took just under four months to build and opened on September 18, 1993, with a 3-1 victory over Notts County.
Three goals down with 20 minutes to play, the Hornets looked dead and buried against Bolton until a quickfire Gary Porter hat-trick - culminating in a last-minute penalty - inspired an incredible turnaround that sealed an improbable 4-3 victory.
A 3-0 defeat to Grimsby prompted home supporters to vent their frustration at Chairman Jack Petchey, with a pitch invasion culminating in an attempt to storm the Directors’ Box.
Over 14,000 supporters turned up to catch a glimpse of German World Cup winner Jürgen Klinsmann’s first appearance for Tottenham, as the North Londoners were held to a 1-1 draw by the Hornets in a keenly-observed pre-season friendly.
A late Richard Johnson screamer powered Watford to a 2-1 victory over highly-fancied Wolves, while putting a dampener on Graham Taylor’s emotional return to The Vic as an opposition manager for the first time.
With the Hornets rooted to the bottom of the Division One table, Graham Taylor returned to the club as General Manager alongside fellow legends Luther Blissett and Kenny Jackett in the lead up to the visit of Ipswich. After being given a hero’s welcome, GT couldn’t prevent a 3-2 defeat to the Tractor Boys.
Just a day after performing a reworked version of Candle in the Wind at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, an emotional Elton John was given a standing ovation by the Vicarage Road crowd before watching Watford beat Wycombe 2-1 from the Directors’ Box.
Versatile Golden Boy Steve Palmer started in goal for Watford’s final home match of the 1997/98 campaign against Bournemouth, helping him on his way to completing the set of wearing every shirt number from one to 14 throughout the season.
Remembered for being the game that kickstarted an unlikely push for the play-offs, nine-man Watford came from behind to beat Tranmere 2-1 in a hotly-contested clash that saw Allan Smart sent off for playing his part in a brawl after Michel Ngonge’s winner.
Midfielder Micah Hyde ended a barren sequence of 45 games with his first goal for over a year in a 2-0 win over Bolton, rifling a 20-yard shot into the top corner and subsequently paying tribute to son Tyrique - who had been born two days earlier - with the ‘rocking the baby’ celebration.
After seven wins and a draw in their last eight games of the regular season, Michel Ngonge nudged Graham Taylor’s Hornets one step closer to a top-flight return with an early winner in the first leg of the Division One play-off semi-finals at home to Birmingham.
Having been built during the 1994/95 season, and boasting a capacity of just under 7,000, the Rookery Stand became the home fans’ end for the start of the 1999/00 Premier League campaign, with the first game delivering a 3-2 defeat to Wimbledon.
On the back of a run of three successive defeats, Watford enjoyed their first big home scalp of the 1999/00 season against Chelsea, courtesy of Allan Smart’s first goal since his strike in the play-off final that had sealed the club’s place in the Premier League.
Signed by Graham Taylor as a complete unknown midway through the season, Icelandic forward Heiðar Helguson soon made his mark with a debut goal against Liverpool that set the tone for the first of two successful spells at The Vic.
Dutchman Nordin Wooter - who had joined the Golden Boys for a then club-record fee in 1999 - lit up The Vic with a fine solo goal against Norwich, cutting in from the right and going past three defenders before dispatching an equaliser that helped set up a 4-1 win.
Graham Taylor bid farewell to the Vicarage Road crowd for the last time at the final home game of the 2000/01 campaign - a 1-1 draw against Tranmere - drawing the curtain on his second permanent spell in charge by embarking on a lap of honour at full-time, delivering an emotional speech and being presented with a giant bottle of champagne.
Having become the third Watford player needing to be carried off in consecutive games, with a shoulder problem, defender Pierre Issa was dropped off his stretcher halfway along the Rookery End during a 3-3 draw with Birmingham that saw debutant Lloyd Doyley come on in his place.
A Paul Robinson masterclass inspired an extra-time 3-2 victory over Premier League Charlton in the fourth round of the League Cup, with the homegrown hero scoring a fabulous goal in between Paolo Vernazza and Heiðar Helguson strikes during one of the highlights of Gianluca Vialli’s reign.
Amidst severe financial difficulties - with staff facing wage cuts and the players having been asked to take a 12 per cent wage deferral after the collapse of ITV Digital - new Chairman Graham Simpson led an appeal to supporters to do whatever they could to help ‘Save Our Club’ ahead of the Hornets’ 1-0 win over Brighton.
Ray Lewington’s Hornets secured a second major semi-final in three seasons by dispatching the Premier League’s South-Coast neighbours Southampton 5-2 and Portsmouth 3-0 in successive League Cup rounds, with a Heiðar Helguson brace and a Bruce Dyer goal seeing off Pompey in the last eight.
Just two months before his departure from the club, boss Ray Lewington led the Hornets to a brave semi-final exit from the League Cup at the hands of Liverpool - who would go on to win the Champions League later that year - with Steven Gerrard notching the only goal of the second leg that made it 2-0 on aggregate.
After seeing his team beat Ipswich 2-1 in their penultimate home game of the 2005/06 season - thanks to a Darius Henderson brace - Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd brought his players back on to the pitch to take part in a mock penalty shootout, ahead of a looming play-off campaign, urging the crowd to make lots of noise.