Matej Vydra joined a select group of Watford players on Saturday when he fired past Derby County keeper Adam Legzdins in the first half to give his side the lead in the 2-1 victory.

The goal was the Czech international’s 20th league strike of the season and he became only the 24th player in the club’s Southern, Football League and Premier League history to reach that landmark, with at least 20 goals registered in a campaign on 30 occasions in the time.

A look through club historian Trefor Jones’ website, www.watfordfcarchive.com, shows the speed with which the 20-year-old has reached the milestone is quicker than some famous names in the club’s history.

Saturday was Vydra’s 29th league appearance of the season, including nine as a substitute, making him the joint 15th fastest to 20 league goals in appearance terms and joint sixth quickest in the post-war years.

It also took Maurice Johnston 29 appearances to net 20 times in the league in 1983/84, while ahead of them in post-war terms are Roy Brown (28 appearances, 1953/54), Ross Jenkins and Cliff Holton (both 25 appearances, 1978/79 and 1960/61 respectively), Dennis Uphill (24 appearances, 1959/60), with Holton the quickest to 20 in as many appearances in 1959/60.

Watford’s fastest player to 20 goals was Frank McPherson, who reached the milestone in just 17 appearances in 1928/29, but Vydra has beaten players such as Luther Blissett to the landmark.

The Hornets all-time record scorer netted 20 or more league goals on three separate occasions for the club, but Blissett’s quickest to 20 was 31 appearances in 1981/82.