May 13, 1983: Watford 2 Liverpool 1

There is a picture of Elton, crouched below the squad of players as they stood posing for a group photograph. With one hand he is reaching out to grab Graham Taylor's attention while his face shows he registers the Manchester United result and the fact the Hornets are second.

Later, I was to reflect on two items of news. A stunned Ross Jenkins informed me just before the game that he had been given a free transfer.

After the game, while the players and staff celebrated the end of term in the boardroom, I bumped into Graham Taylor in the kitchen.

"It is one hell of a problem," he said, "because we won't finish runners-up next season. We have made it harder for ourselves."

So it transpired, but Watford, for four more seasons under Graham, took the club to further success.

From The Watford Observer, May 20 1983

Watford: Sherwood; Rice, Sims, Franklin, Rostron, Patching, Jackett, Callaghan, Blissett, Barnes, Sterling. Substitute; Lohman for Sims after 69 minutes.

Liverpool: Grobbelaar; Neal, Kennedy, Lawrenson, Thompson, Hansen, Dalglish, Lee, Hodgson, Johnston, Sounness. Substitute: Nicol for Lawrenson after 45 minutes.

ACE striker Kenny Dalglish made the miss of the match which denied Liverpool the chance of a point on Saturday and cost Watford FC the best part of £40,000. That's the approximate sum Watford's players will share for finishing second in the First Division but there was no bonus scheduled for any position lower than runners-up.

Yet, in a manner which typifies the attitudes and standards at Vicarage Road, Graham Taylor and his cohorts on the Watford bench, were at their most animated in cajoling the team as they led Liverpool 2-1.

Taylor, who could probably have put the lump sum to a good use in his bid to strength the first-team squad, admitted: "For the first time we decided to hold what we had and stop the opposition playing when we were leading 2-1. I wanted Jan Lohman to follow Sammy Lee everywhere."

In the end Watford survived Liverpool's second coming and enjoyed a series of near misses themselves before securing second place and a share of the bonus. So once again the twists and turns, ups and downs and general gyrations of football fortunes have staggered and thrilled Watford and their fans as their turn has come for a place in the soccer sun. Yet on Saturday, as if it were not enough to confirm that the Hornets had finished ahead of a list of illustrious soccer names, football threw in an added quirk. . . the amazing emergence of Martin Patching.

That the midfield player was about to call time on his Football League career and exchange Graham Taylor for a brewery as boss, is already well documented. But Taylor's penchant for tossing in the unexpected caused as much confusion in Patching's mind as it did in the Liverpool defence.

Not only did the would-be landlord score the goal to put the Hornets en route for Europe, but he also confirmed recently inspired views that he has been the best player in the Football Combination and has a future as a first-team squad member.

The whole saga added more spice to a memorable afternoon as the Hornets continue their seemingly unending run of topping their own recent history. But Patching's performance was not the only one of note. Worrell Sterling - just a £25-a-week - apprentice did enough to suggest that the £975 weekly difference between his wages and those of his first-half marker Phil Neal, is a trifle disproportionate.

Could Watford have saved themselves the problem of finding a left-sided replacement now that John Barnes seems to be growing into the number nine shirt? Sterling, still 17 and a retiring, unassuming individual, could blossom into a virtuoso along the established lines of Blissett, Barnes and Callaghan.

And at the back, 19-year-old Paul Franklin, capped a superb Football Combination season overcoming the concept of a mind boggling debut and acquitting himself well as he and the defence attempted to stem the threat of the nation's best, taking time off to put through three of the best passes of the afternoon.

But Saturday's result and performance was not just a culmination and confirmation of the season past but also a revealing glimpse through the doorway into the future. Watford are evolving while sticking to their basic concepts.

"We do not need to replace but add," said Taylor after the match.

The process has been accelerated with the development of Barnes as a central striker and, while his shooting is perhaps too classic, too polite, the goals must surely come. Watford have enough quality in attack to worry the best of defences yet again, although the scheduling for the departure of both Armstrong and Jenkins leaves the Hornets short of experienced, effective cover.

Sterling may prove to be the most promising in the long term and happily he demonstrated both the enthusiasm and ability to harass and tackle back. Patching underlined with his performance, just what the Hornets have missed over the last two-and-a-half years. Despite his limited mobility in certain positions - "I have to make a three-point turn", as he puts it - he showed that he still has much to offer.

But ultimately it was a carnival afternoon in which Liverpool demonstrated, even in defeat, just why they are a class above the rest and Watford again showed why they have stormed the bastions of soccer complacency with their no-nonsense approach augmented with increasing quality.

Some have attempted to "suggest that Liverpool had little appetite for the game" and obviously, had the championship rested upon the clash, one could have expected a little more urgency on occasions. As it is, Liverpool displayed their wares, notably in the second half but had they shown greater urgency throughout, who is to say they would not have presented the Hornets with more opportunities because of the greater percentage of errors?

Watford have a long way to go and they face bigger problems next year. But suffice to say that Bob Paisley and his henchmen were locked in a dressing room for the best part of two hours with Watford's manager Graham Taylor, who emerged having been firmly told by the most successful team in the land, that he was on the right lines.

The speed and skill of David Hodgson gave Watford a few early problems with Sherwood having to dive and save well from the striker, and later Patching had to race back to effect a vital block on Dalglish after Hodgson had opened up the defence.

Then Hodgson got his nose ahead of Rostron on a 50-yard run but the back did sufficient to put him off his final errant shot. If Rostron was guilty of flirting with the laws of the game on that occasion then, referee Alf Grey had a torrid affair with them. For the first 20 minute the only fouls he penalised were the challenges by Watford and the knifing or grenade attacks by Liverpool players. As there were none of the latter, only a few hefty fouls, Watford were not awarded a free kick until the proceedings approached the interval.

Perhaps the referee was overcome by the realisation that this was his final League game but he certainly reflected the poor standard of refereeing that continues to blight the game.

A curling shot by Barnes after leaving several defenders beaten on the left, went close and Sterling, after being fouled by Neal, was up on his feet again quicker than the referee was able to put the whistle to his mouth, and put in a curling shot which Grobbelaar caught late beneath the angle. Then, from a fine free-kick by Franklin, Blissett rose and headed towards the same angle but the Liverpool goal keeper excelled to save.

He was let off the hook a few minutes later when he raced out to challenge Callaghan, however. The winger, having broken clear on to a fine pass from Jackett, could have attempted a chip or take the goalkeeper on but opted for a poor and improbable pass inside, which the returning Liverpool defenders cut out with ease.

A speculative effort from Sourness and a good break by Hodgson failed to find the Watford net while, at the back, Liverpool were being harassed into numerous errors and were forced to keep Watford at bay with the use of a tenuous offside trap.

In the 39th minute the story of the match became a fairy tale with Blissett winning possession in the center circle and threading the ball through the straight line of Liverpool defenders into the path of Patching. As the midfield man broke into a gallop and raced clear. Grobbelaar came but was beaten by a clinical, rising, curling drive, which would have been another contender for the goal of the season. There have been few goals of that quality this season.Barnes went close with an impressive overhead kick early in the second half and gave Neal a tricky time on occasions as Liverpool reshuffled their defence to cope for the loss of the limping Lawrenson.

And it was Barnes who finally cut the Liverpool defence open again after Frankin had set him up with a lovely pass. Barnes went down the line and crossed for Blissett, Neal and Grobbelaar to converge upon. In my book it looked like an own goal, for the ball rolled to a halt short of the line and was knocked in by the goalkeeper as he scrambled to retrieve it.

Grobbelaar claimed that the ball was kicked from his hands and understandably apportioned no blame to himself while Blissett said the ball went in off his shot, via the goalkeeper. In the light of everything it seems fair if not necessarily accurate to the finest point, to award Blissett his 30th goal.

Liverpool slipped up a gear, forging forward slickly and professionally doing much to assuage the general disappointment I for one have felt at the quality of Division One football. For a spell Liverpool looked a class on their own and when Dalglish made the opening Hodgson was unlucky not to score when his shot beat Sherwood but hit the post.

In the 62nd minute football fortune smiled on Liverpool as if to redress that balance when Craig Johnston's intended cross went astray and became an inch-perfect chip over Sherwood into the net at the far post. Sherwood, who has had some disconcerting experiences of late, rallied a few minutes later to thwart Johnston when he saved with his legs at the near post and then, as he stood up when Dalglish broke clean through, he in turn disconcerted the striker who thrashed the ball way off-target.

"Good to see it's not only Blissett who misses chances", said Taylor with a wry smile at the Press conference after the game.

Barnes, Blissett and Sterling all went close with Neal clearing off the line on one occasion and giving such a blatant show on another that it seemed that even Mr Gray would spot it.

Watford had survived Liverpool's purple patch perhaps fortunately but they finished with a flurry of their own.

It has been a Roy of the Rovers season and Patching's re-emergence together with the impressive fielding of Sterling and Frankin, gave it a Roy of the rovers finale.

But then, it was not so much a match, as pure theatre.