Promotion is the priority but the superb scoring form of Troy Deeney in helping to take Watford to the top of the Championship has put him on the brink of making club history.

As we have reported previously, the captain is seeking to become the first Watford player to score 20 goals in three successive seasons and he is now only one short of that historic feat after moving on to 19 for the campaign with a brace in last night’s 2-0 victory at Wigan Athletic.

The 26-year-old is now eighth on the Hornets’ all-time scorers’ list in all competitions and should he make history by scoring again in Saturday’s home game against Ipswich Town, the striker will also achieve something that no other Watford player has accomplished in more than 80 years.

The former Walsall player has now scored in six consecutive league games for the Hornets – replicating a sequence he also put together in the 2012/13 campaign – and if he nets for a seventh straight match he will equal Frank McPherson’s record from 1928/29.

McPherson went on to repeat the feat the following season, although the records section of www.watfordfcarchive.com shows this run was interrupted by one league fixture in which he did not play.

The victory at the DW Stadium was the Hornets’ tenth away success of the season, a number they have only previously achieved on seven occasions since they joined the Football League in 1920.

Slavisa Jokanovic’s men also remain on track to set a new club scoring record for a season. Deeney’s double took them up to 78 goals last night, meaning the Hornets need to net another 15 in the remaining eight fixtures to beat the record of 92 set in 1959/60.

Watford’s all-time leading scorers in all competitions

Luther Blissett – 186 goals

Tommy Barnett – 163

Ross Jenkins – 142

Cliff Holton – 105

Charlie White – 88

John Barnes – 85

Maurice Cook – 81

Troy Deeney - 79