With Norwich City travelling to Vicarage Road to face Watford on Boxing Day, let’s rewind the clock nearly six years for 2015’s Memorable Match.
Like this season, both teams were battling for promotion to the Premier League in 2014/15, and City showed what they were made of with a classy 3-0 win in Hertfordshire.
Championship
Vicarage Road
February 21, 2015
What was on the line?
Three precious points as both teams looked to continue their march towards the Premier League.
Norwich were sixth going into this game and had spent much of the season flirting with the play-off places. Watford were similar, fifth going into this fixture.
Both teams had won their first three matches of February, with City beating Blackpool 4-0, Charlton Athletic 3-2 and Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0.
How the game unfolded
Title challengers going head to head can often result in cagey affairs, and that’s how it was looking right up until the 65th minute when Wes Hoolahan was fouled in the 18-yard box.
Lewis Grabban converted from the spot for City’s first shot on target.
And then the floodgates began to open, with Hoolahan pulling the strings. The Irishman drove the ball forward again, teeing it up for Cameron Jerome on his left, who curled it over Heurelho Gomes from the edge of the area five minutes later for 2-0.
With five minutes to go, Grabban’s brace put the result beyond doubt, the forward getting on the end of Stephen Whittaker’s inviting right-wing cross for 3-0.
City XI: Ruddy, Bassong, Martin, Olsson, Tettey, Whittaker, Hoolahan (Redmond 81’), Howson, Johnson, Grabban (Hooper 89’), Jerome (Dorrans 80’)
Unused substitutes: Rudd, Cuellar, Garrido, Andreu
What happened next?
City’s good form continued until the end of the season. Alex Neil’s side climbed up to second, but ultimately finished third and won the play-off final against fourth-placed Middlesbrough.
Watford, meanwhile, only lost once after this game and climbed to the summit of the league before being topped by AFC Bournemouth and finishing second, three points above the Canaries.