McAnuff and Rasiak double seal comfortable win

All the hard work was done in the first-half as Jobi McAnuff put the Hornets in front before Grzegorz Rasiak added a brace before the interval.

There was a degree of irony about the scorer of the visitors’ consolation in that it was netted by on-loan Watford midfielder John Eustace, but the home side still had ample chances to have added to their tally as they finished the campaign in a very creditable 13th place.

Rodgers was forced into two changes from the 3-2 victory at Coventry City, opting to bring back Gavin Hoyte after a 12-game absence and including fellow on-loan player Danny Rose at the expense of the injured pair of Mike Williamson and Ross Jenkins.

It was the visitors, with striker Rob Hulse deployed at centre-half, who sought to make the early running, but Watford had the first attempt of the match, with Tommy Smith curling a left-footed attempt wide in the fourth minute.

The Rams responded, with Barry Bannan seeing a left-footed attempt deflected behind for his side’s second corner in the seventh minute, but soon after Rose looked to have a great opportunity to open his side’s account, only to be flagged offside as he fired across goal and wide from the left side of the area.

With little except points and position riding on the game, both sides continued to look to attack, and in the 11th minute Bannan wasn’t far away from giving the Rams the lead with another left-footed effort from the edge of the area that clipped the top of the bar as it went over.

Back came the Hornets though, with Tamas Priskin working a neat one-two with Rasiak before hitting a low right-footed drive that forced Stephen Bywater into a smart stop low down by his near post.

But with their next opening, Watford did take the lead in the 14th minute.

Again the Hornets front pairing were heavily involved, with Rasiak nodding the ball down to Priskin, who rather scuffed his effort, but the ball broke ideally for McAnuff to calmly steer his fourth of the season low to Bywater’s left from six yards to make it 1-0.

Little then happened until the 23rd minute when Gary Teale curled a right-footed shot from the edge of the 18-yard box narrowly wide of Scott Loach’s left-hand post.

But four minutes later the Hornets put clear daylight between themselves and the visitors.

Rose swung in a free-kick from the right side of the penalty area, Priskin beat Bywater to the jump, only to see his header rebound off the face of the bar. Adrian Mariappa looked certain to score with an acrobatic follow-up, but that was blocked on the line, but that only served to give Rasiak the easiest of tap-ins on the line for his ninth goal of the campaign.

McAnuff then had another effort blocked after once again beating Derby skipper Paul Connolly with his speed of foot and thought, although the visitors did muster their first on-target attempt of the match when Luke Varney tamely headed a Robbie Savage cross straight at Loach from the edge of the six-yard box.

Four minutes before the break though, the Hornets looked to have made the game safe as Derby’s makeshift defence were once again pulled apart by the home side’s thought and movement.

Rasiak started the move by spotting Smith in acres of space to his right and Watford’s top scorer accelerated into the right side of the area before laying the ball back to the Pole, who steered home his second of the game against one of his former clubs via the base of the helpless Bywater’s left-hand post to make it 3-0. In doing so, the Pole became the third Hornet to move into double figures for the season.

And there was still time for Watford to almost win a penalty when Rose worked a nice give-and-go with McAnuff as he cut into the area, and then looked to be brought down as he shaped to shoot on his right foot, but referee Scott Mathieson was not interested.

Even so, it could not take the gloss off what had been a fine first 45 minutes from Rodgers’ men.

The Hornets were straight back on the front foot from the restart, with McAnuff winning a corner inside the opening minute. That came to nothing and Lloyd Doyley was soon earning a needless booking for delaying a free-kick.

The pattern of the game largely continued until the 55th minute when the home side looked to be a shade lucky to escape when Varney appeared to be pushed over in the box.

But it was the Rams who were counting their blessings moments later when Smith played a fine reverse pass into Priskin, who burst in from the right side of the side area but was unable to beat Bywater at his near post.

Doyley then decided to have a go himself, breaking superbly in between two opponents down the left before trying a low cross that was deflected into the Derby keeper’s hands at the near post.

Despite having relatively little to do, Loach was forced into a good stop in the 64th minute to keep out a left-footed drive from Kris Commons and then reach the rebound before Varney after Commons had broken away from Smith and attacked the left side of the Hornets’ box.

Watford then won a free-kick in a promising position close to the Derby area, but before this could be taken Mark O’Brien and Emanuel Villa replaced Lewin Nyatanga and Varney, while Rodgers decided it was the moment to give a debut to young full-back Lee Hodson in place of Hoyte.

But when the free-kick was eventually taken, Smith rolled it inside to McAnuff, whose stinging right-footed drive was palmed up into the air and then caught by Bywater.

However, it took a superb reaction stop from Loach to prevent the visitors from pulling one back in the 72nd minute.

Substitute Villa picked out Commons in the heart of the area and his right-footed shot on the turn looked destined for the net until it was blocked by the Hornets keeper. He was again in the right place moments later to make a more routine stop from Eustace following another ball in from the right.

Watford made a second change with 13 minutes remaining when Aleksandrs Cauna came on for Rose, but soon after that Commons hit a left-footed piledriver from 30 yards inches over.

However, with the season entering the final ten minutes the Hornets had three chances in quick succession to net a fourth.

First Rasiak had a left-footed curler plucked out of the air by Bannan, McAnuff saw a left-footed shot deflected onto the Derby keeper’s right-hand post, and then Rasiak did superbly well to bring a Smith cross down, turn his man, only to hit a rising half-volley over the top.

But there was a shade of irony when Derby did manage to pull a goal back on 82 minutes, with on-loan Watford midfielder Eustace rising largely unmarked to head a Bannan corner from the right down inside Loach’s left-hand post.

Mark Dudley came on for Stephen Pearson with six minutes left, but Watford should have added a fourth when Priskin read a poor back pass by Connolly and side-stepped Bywater. However, instead of picking out a better placed team-mate, the Hungarian chose to go it alone and his lobbed curling effort was cleared off the line by Connolly.

But there was still time for the Hornets to almost score again where Cauna hit a superb left-footed effort from the opposite side of the box that was destined for the top corner until Bywater’s outstretched arm got in the way.

Watford: Loach; Hoyte (Hodson, 65), DeMerit, Mariappa, Doyley; Smith, Cork (Hoskins, 89), Rose (Cauna, 77), McAnuff; Rasiak, Priskin. Not used: Lee and Stepanov.

Derby County: Bywater, Connolly, Hulse, Nyatanga (O’Brien, 65), Pearson; Bannan, Eustace, Savage, Teale; Commons, Varney (Villa, 65). Not used: Price and Beardsley.

Bookings: Doyley for delaying a free-kick after 47 mins.

Attendance: Referee: Scott Mathieson.