Why Watford’s first opening Championship defeat in 20 years might be a blessing in disguise

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Watford endured an unusual start to their Championship campaign as the Hornets fell to a last-minute 1-0 defeat at Charlton.

The newly promoted Addicks, who are back in the second tier for the first time in five years, secured a dramatic winner in the 94th minute through new £1.8million signing Harvey Knibbs on his debut.

The Hornets aren’t used to coming away from match day one without points, with them winning their opening league game of the season in each of the last five campaigns. Their unbeaten record for their Championship openers goes back even further.

However, Paulo Pezzolano’s side and Watford fans will be pleased to know their opening day defeat could be a good omen.

Watford won promotion when they last lost on the opening day

Watford’s defeat at The Valley marks the first time the club have lost their opening Championship game since 2005.

That loss came in the form of a 2-1 defeat to Preston North End at Vicarage Road in the 2005/06 season opener.

Darius Henderson put the Hornets in front before Preston’s David Nugent and Dickson Etuhu scored to take all three points back to Lancashire.

Watford’s opening day defeat will have felt like a distant memory come the end of that campaign, though.

The Hertfordshire outfit went on to promotion to the Premier League that season after defeating Leeds 3-0 in the play-off final.

If that doesn’t lift Watford fans’ spirits after Saturday enough, the Hornets also lost 1-0 to Charlton at The Valley in the 2014/15 – another season that saw them get promoted to the Premier League.

Watford have been in and out of the top tier in the last 20 years. They were relegated rock bottom in 2006 but have spent six seasons in the top flight since.

Man City loanee makes Hornets bow

Many Watford fans pointed to their side needing more time for their recruits to gel after their opening day defeat to Charlton – and they’ve got some tough fixtures coming up to do it in.

One promising player the travelling fans got to get a glimpse of was Manchester City loanee Max Alleyne.

He came on as a substitute in the dying minutes of the game for fellow defender James Abankwah.

Although conceding in the 94th minute won’t have been the dream debut he was hoping for, Hornets fans will be hoping he can help fill the defensive holes left by Francisco Sierralta, Ryan Porteous and Antonio Tikvic.