Party Like It's 1999: Tommy Mooney

In the build-up to the 25-year anniversary of Watford's 2-0 play-off final victory over Bolton Wanderers on May 31, we will be reproducing some of Mike Walters' Party Like It's 1999 articles which have appeared in this season's matchday programme.

Mike looks back on the key individuals from the squad which secured promotion to the Premier League. This time, it's Tommy Mooney...

Every Tuesday evening, when I worked in the north-east as a cub reporter, a bunch of us would convene at Norton School, on the outskirts of Stockton-on-Tees, for an hour of five-a-side.

On a couple of occasions, when somebody couldn't make it, one of the lads roped in a 14-year-old schoolboy called Tommy to even up the numbers.

Feisty little rascal, he was. Didn't pull out of any tackles, left his foot in, didn't mind a little dig with his elbows, either. Hard as nails, top lad.

Years later, I discovered this robust teenager with a decent left peg was none other than Watford legend Tommy Mooney, and we had a laugh about the good old days before reverting to business as usual – reverence and unfettered worship for one of the most important goalscoring runs in the Hornets' history.

Mooney had scored only twice all season – away at Huddersfield and Ipswich – when he embarked on a sensational run of seven goals in six games which sent Watford on a turbo-charged run into the play-offs and, ultimately, to Wembley glory.

His golden streak began on Easter Monday in the 1998/99 season at Birmingham, where the former Aston Villa youth team and reserve player took exceptional pleasure from converting a cross from another ex-Villa refugee, Tony Daley, with a stooping header at the far post.

Mooney returned the compliment, standing up a cross for Daley to double the Golden Boys' lead, and it was enough to give Watford a 2-1 win at St Andrews. Suddenly, after six points from two games over Easter, the play-offs didn't seem such a distant target.

When the Hornets made it three wins in a row against Bolton, the faint scent of promotion became a pungent fragrance.

Mooney saw an early penalty saved by Steve Banks before Micah Hyde launched an exquisite opener into the top corner from 25 yards, triggering the new father's rock-a-bye goal celebration.

And by the time Mooney's glorious, salmon-leaping header from Darren Bazeley's cross made it 2-0, furtive text messages were being exchanged between Vicarage Road and the church nine miles away in Latimer where your correspondent's sister was getting married.

Hope the bush telegraph's occasional crackle didn't spoil your enjoyment of the big day, sis!

Back at the Home of Football, Watford were on a roll and the excitement was almost tangible.

Mooney's goalscoring run would continue against Crewe, Crystal Palace, Port Vale and Barnsley, and in the play-off final at Wembley he was inches away from scoring against Bolton again with an identikit header like his bullseye on Claire and Simon's wedding day.

"It was a special time, and if I could go back I would do it all again in a heartbeat," he said.

"The one thing that would have made it extra special was scoring at Wembley.

"Micah picked me out with a fantastic cross to the far post, and instead of heading it back across the keeper – like the coaching manual tells you – I tried to cushion my header into the bottom corner.

"It couldn't have been much closer, and the keeper wasn't getting there, but it drifted the wrong side of the post.

"That was my big chance to score at Wembley, with all my family there watching me, and for a couple of minutes afterwards I was devastated, but then Allan Smart made it 2-0 and you forget about your individual dreams and celebrate what we had achieved as a team."

Boyhood Liverpool fan Mooney would enjoy the ultimate satisfaction of scoring the winner at Anfield early the following season, laughing at the memory of taxi drivers who watched the squad arriving at Lime Street station and transferring to their waiting coach, jeering: "There they go, like lambs to the slaughter."

Watford's 1-0 win would ultimately cost Liverpool a place in the Champions League.