Watford appeared to suffer from another refereeing blunder this afternoon as Wes Hoolahan’s fall in the penalty area was the catalyst for Norwich City going on to win 3-0 at Vicarage Road.

The two sides were inseparable during the opening hour of this contest but then Hoolahan’s tumble resulted in Lewis Grabban taking the lead from the spot.

The Golden Boys were subsequently forced to chase the match and a long-range effort from Cameron Jerome and another for Grabban ensured The Canaries leapfrogged Watford into fifth position.

The penalty decision changed the dynamics of the match but the home team failed to trouble Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy throughout the game and failed to produce a reaction in the final 25 minutes.

Today’s game saw two of the Championship’s in-form sides go head-to-head. The Golden Boys had won five of their last six and Norwich had secured four victories and a draw in their previous six encounters heading into this fixture.

It was fifth versus sixth in the Championship and the teams went into the contest knowing top-of-the-table Middlesbrough had dropped another three points with defeat to Leeds United.

Slavisa Jokanovic named the line-up many expected, with Troy Deeney replacing Matej Vydra in the only change to the starting XI and 18-man match-day squad.

Norwich, like Watford, boast one of the strongest squads in the division and this week signed Graham Dorrans on loan from West Bromwich Albion. He had to settle for a place on an extremely strong bench which included Nathan Redmond, Gary Hooper and Carlos Cuellar.

The referee had a poor afternoon and along with his assistant combined to hand the visitors the first effort at goal. A very generous free-kick on the corner of the penalty area ended with Steven Whittaker curling over from outside the box.

It was to be one of only a few attempts in the first half. The Hornets struggled to get their passing game going as Alex Tettey, ably assisted by Bradley Johnson, helped provide a screen in front of their defence. The Golden Boys often attempted to play it directly into the strikers in the air and then ex-Golden Boy Sebastien Bassong and Russell Martin dealt with the threat with minimal fuss. It was at contrast to some of the excellent one-touch passing shown at Bolton Wanderers a week previously.

Deeney did have a shot at goal from the corner of the area after being released by Odion Ighalo but it was always seemed unlikely he would beat England goalkeeper Ruddy from that angle and the ball went comfortably wide.

Both sides are led by men who are tactically astute and the teams did appear to cancel each other. The ball would rarely enter the opposition third as it was moved around the respective defences and into the midfields before an potential attack was nullified.

Watford kept the ball better around the half-hour mark and enjoyed a spell of pressure. A run from deep by Almen Abdi gave the home team one of their best opportunities of the opening period when he was brought down on the edge of the area. But the midfielder hit the top of the wall with the resulting free-kick.

At the start of the second period Deeney’s harrying resulted in him feeding Ighalo but he was immediately closed down by Martin. The in-form striker also went down far too easily in the box shortly afterwards. At the other end Tettey sliced wide by some distance from 30 yards out but the second half was a similar theme to the first as attacking play was at a premium.

Watford were controlling more of the play though and Anya’s pace did enable him to cross into the box and a failed clearance dropped to Abdi 12 yards out. However, he was unable to make decent contact and it was a routine stop for Ruddy.

The referee, Carl Berry, was very poor throughout the contest and he appeared to make a game-changing mistake just after the hour. The press area at Vicarage Road is in the top corner of the Graham Taylor Stand at the Vicarage Road end so the media have a terrible view of the other end of the pitch but even from 100 yards away it seemed like an obvious dive from Hoolahan when Norwich were awarded a penalty. Grabban put the ball in the bottom corner from the spot-kick for 1-0.

Today’s game with Norwich drew comparisons to the respective fixture at Carrow Road in August. That day a referee’s mistake left the Golden Boys at a huge disadvantage and they went on to lose comfortably. And on that day Heurelho Gomes had an afternoon to forget as he was twice lobbed from distance. It happened once again at Vicarage Road. Hoolahan ran from deep and then Jerome struck a powerful shot from outside the area which curled over Gomes to make it 2-0.

The Watford goalkeeper did go on to make two superb saves to keep it at that score temporarily. First Craig Cathcart’s block went into the path of Grabban and his point-blank shot was stopped and then Johnson’s header would have nestled into the bottom corner had it not been for the ex-Spurs man.

Immediately after the second goal Jokanovic switched to 4-3-1-2 with the introduction of Vydra as Watford were forced to chase the game. This left them exposed to the counter and, like in August, Norwich scored a third goal. Whittaker’s cross from the right was not cut out by any Hornets defenders and Grabban was left free to slide in and volley in from close range.

The destination of the three points was now in no doubt but Grabban was looking for his hat-trick and fired a shot from a tight angle over the bar.

Substitute Daniel Tozser shot wide by some margin from a long way out but in truth Watford didn’t trouble Ruddy throughout the 90 minutes.

The last significant refereeing blunder which contributed to the Hornets losing three points, at Bournemouth, was followed by a run of three consecutive victories. The Golden Boys’ promotion push took a hit this afternoon but Jokanovic will be hoping for a similar reaction once again.

Watford: Gomes; Cathcart, Ekstrand (Vydra 73), Angella; Paredes, Watson (Tozser 78), Abdi, Layun (Munari 69), Anya; Deeney, Ighalo.

Subs not used: Bond, Tozser, Pudil, Hoban.

Norwich City: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson; Tettey, Howson, Johnson, Hoolahan (Redmond 81); Jerome (Dorrans 80), Grabban (Hooper 89).

Subs not used: Rudd, Cuellar, Hooper, Andreu, Garrido.

Referee: Carl Berry.

Attendance: 18,602 (2,140).