Malky Mackay stated Troy Deeney – who he brought to Watford in 2010 – is ‘by far’ the best striker in the Championship and believes the Hornets are destined to be promoted to the Premier League this season.

Mackay signed Deeney from Walsall in the summer of 2010 but a delay in negotiations resulted in Marvin Sordell starting the campaign alongside Danny Graham.

Sordell impressed and Deeney had to often settle for coming off the bench or playing out wide, which contributed to him finding the net just three times in his first 15 months at Vicarage Road.

However, Deeney proved his quality following Sordell’s departure and the 26-year-old is on course to score 20 goals in the Championship for a third season in a row.

It was Deeney’s two goals which ensured the Golden Boys beat Mackay’s Wigan Athletic 2-0 tonight to move the Hertfordshire club to the top of the Championship.

“That is why I bought him in the first place,” Mackay said. “He is an absolutely terrific centre forward and he has blossomed.

“For me he is by far the best centre forward in this division. He is an all-rounder.

“We played really well down at Watford in one of my first games here and he popped up and scored the winner.

“Tonight I thought we were terrific playing against one of the most potent threats in the division and they are a team who I believe are destined to go up this year.

“We went toe-to-toe with them for vast parts of the game and were equal to them.”

Deeney was considered a ‘big-money’ signing for what was a cash-strapped club in 2010, although the £650,000 figure reported is some way off the actual fee paid due to a number of different clauses.

The Birmingham-born frontman only found the net three times in his first 54 games for the Golden Boys due to the reasons mentioned above but when asked if he remained confident Deeney would prove himself to be a Championship striker, Mackay replied: “Yes because we bought potential. He was behind Danny Graham and Marvin Sordell when he arrived – players who we sold for £6 million - so it was about potential at that point.

“He obviously had his issues as well and great credit to the lad to come back from something like that (his prison spell) and kick on again to become the centre forward he has become.

“Quite rightly – because of his hard work – he will end up in the Premier League one way or another.”

Deeney’s first goal tonight was a powerful header and the second came from the penalty spot in injury-time following a penalty which Mackay believed was harsh.

Wigan are six points from Championship safety and both Rotherham and Fulham now have games in hand on the Latics. But for large parts Mackay’s men were a match for the league leaders.

Mackay said: “For me the scoreline did not reflect the nature of the game but I make no apologies for going for the win [when 1-0 down].

“We were doing fine. I thought the first half was nip and tuck and we had a couple of terrific chances and were causing real problems down the left hand side, to the point that they took off their right back (Marco Motta) because of the problems caused by young (Sheyi) Ojo and him getting at the full back.

“I thought we started the second half well again and it was a poor cross of ours into the goalkeeper’s arms which allowed them to attack and a real potent attack scored against us.

“After that we had to go for it and we absolutely did. We ended up with 25 crosses into their box tonight and you would think that with 25 crosses going in that something would drop to you but to be fair they were putting their bodies on the line and diving across to make blocks – which show you why they are where they are at the moment.”

Jokanovic named centre back Tommie Hoban at left wing-back tonight as part of a 3-5-2 formation and sacrificed the flair of Fernando Forestieri in favour of the more dogged Gianni Munari in the first half.

At the break Jokanovic introduced Forestieri and went for a more attack-minded 4-3-1-2, which resulted in the Golden Boys creating more chances, especially after the opening goal.

Jokanovic suggested the unpredictability of how Wigan would line-up and the threat they possessed contributed to his team selection, and when that point was highlighted to Mackay, he said: “It certainly is [credit to how Wigan have played recently] if that is what he said.

“We were playing against some terrific players tonight. We knew Deeney and Vydra would be a real threat and for them to not play Daniel Tozser I suppose is quite something, maybe also Forestieri. Tozser is the one who makes them tick so for them to select something else to play against us [says something about Wigan’s performances recently].

“We have been playing well and we have been playing well at home and away recently.”

You can read a match report from tonight's game here.