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Fortress Vicarage Road could prove the deciding factor if Watford returns to the Premier League.
This was their 12th win in 16 home games this season, more than anyone else in the Championship, and it raised them to the point level with Brentford in second place on automatic promotion.
Joao Pedro and Will Hughes produced the quick one-two to sink Wayne Rooney’s Derby, who has failed to score a single point from the 14 games in which they have lagged this season.
Second best until William Troost-Ekong gifted them a return goal, Derby threw the kitchen sink at Watford in the final minutes, but the damage was done.
A five-out-of-six win streak had pushed the Rams away from the bottom three, but with their long-awaited acquisition of Abu Dhabi stalled, the anxieties that have plagued their season are never far away.
‘We deserved something out of the game. We had a 10 minute period when we were sloppy, but we showed a good reaction by going down 2-0, ‘said Rooney.
“We had Watford on the ropes at times and another day we got the second goal.”
Watford took an iron grip on the proceedings with two goals in two minutes with both of them no doubt upsetting Rooney.
Jason Knight lost possession in the run-up to Watford’s first, with Ismaila Sarr running down Lee Buchanan’s blindside to cross. The ball hit Andre Wisdom, then inadvertently Pedro, and bounced off goalkeeper David Marshall.
The second came from a corner with Tom Cleverley beating Patrick Roberts on the ball and finding Nathaniel Chalobah in the box. He backed toward Hughes, whose left-handed shot landed in the far corner.
Colin Kazim-Richards saw a goal disallowed for the Rams when Wisdom blocked Hornets goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann, but they halved the deficit with 13 minutes remaining.
Nathan Byrne crossed brilliantly from the right and after Kazim-Richards leaned in, Troost-Ekong behind him deflected the ball to his own goalkeeper.
Watford coach Xisco Muñoz said: ‘We played brilliantly in the first half, but we struggled in the final minutes. But nobody said it was easy in the Championship. ‘
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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