Troy Deeney makes scoring history for Watford as Championship leaders Middlesbrough beaten

After a tight yet quality opening to the game between two good sides, Ikechi Anya had the game’s first clear opening when he was released in the area but Dimi Konstantopoulos made a good save at the foot of his near post with his legs.

But Deeney’s moment of history arrived in the 37th minute when Jonathan Woodgate was unable to cut out a searching Adlene Guedioura cross from the right and the Hornets’ talismanic skipper brought the ball down before calmly sliding the ball beneath the keeper’s legs to become the first Watford player to score 20 goals for three consecutive seasons.

That was a good goal but the Hornets’ second midway through the second half was sensational – Odion Ighalo taking a couple of touches to step away from Woodgate before hitting a wonderful left-footed shot into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Guedioura almost added a sublime third with a cushioned lob from the edge of the box that brought the best out of Konstantopoulos on a day when the Hornets were at their best in all departments.

Slavisa Jokanovic was always going to have to make one change following Marco Motta’s sending off in the 2-2 draw at Derby County on Friday night, but he decided to make two more as the Hornets reverted back to a 3-5-2 formation.

Miguel Layun and Matej Vydra dropped to a bench that also included the fit-again Almen Abdi as Juan Carlos Paredes and Anya came into the starting line-up as the two wing-backs.

Middlesbrough beat Wigan Athletic 1-0 last time out to go top of the table but boss Aitor Karanka also opted to make three changes.

Dwight Tiendalli and Fernando Amorebieta came into the back four, with Lee Tomlin on the left of the attacking midfield three and Ben Gibson, Tomas Kalas and Jelle Vossen were among the replacements.

After a relatively low-key opening, Albert Adomah won the first corner of the match for the visitors, but Ighalo did his job at the near post to clear Grant Leadbitter’s delivery from the right.

A second corner soon followed for Boro as they looked to establish an early footing, but again this came to nothing as the ball was played out to the edge of the penalty area.

The Hornets were given as good as they got and it was the home side who were to have the first chance in the tenth minute when Deeney headed wide from the edge of the six-yard box after Anya had stood up a ball from the left side of the penalty area.

A lovely ball with the outside of his left foot from Deeney then almost played an Anya in, but it just had too much pace on it and Konstantopoulos was able to gather.

Boro’s first effort on goal came in ambitious fashion in the 13th minute when Leadbitter tried to catch Heurelho Gomes out with a free-kick from around 40 yards, but the Watford goalkeeper was alive to the danger and dived to his right to catch the ball.

Both sides continued to spar with neither able to get the upper hand, although the left flank was looking like it could be a productive area for the home side if they could get the ball to Anya more often.

And it was the Scotland international who was to have the game’s first big chance in the 22nd minute, forcing Konstantopoulos to save well with his legs at the foot of his near post following a lay-off from Ighalo had put the Watford wide man in on goal after Anya had capitalised on a slip from Tiendalli to attack the Boro chance.

Another good chance for the home side came and went soon after when Gabriele Angella got up well to meet a corner from the right, but he headed down and narrowly wide of the far post.

Adam Reach was the first player to be booked in the 26th minute for a foul on Deeney and then the Hornets striker dragged a shot wide from 25 yards after good one-touch link-up play with Ighalo.

The visitors’ top scorer Patrick Bamford had been kept largely quiet in the opening half-an-hour but it took some good defending from Tommie Hoban to stand him up and deflect a shot from the striker out for a corner.

Tomlin then had Boro’s first clear of sight of goal but he could only divert a half-volley into the grateful arms of Gomes after being picked out by a George Friend cross from the left.

But in the 37th minute came a long-awaited moment of history as Watford made the vital breakthrough.

The move originated from the right as Guedioura played in a superb deep cross that Woodgate was unable to cut out and Deeney brought the ball under control before sliding it beneath Konstantopoulos to net his historic 20th goal of the campaign and make it 1-0.

The Hornets had their tails up and went looking for a second in the closing stages of the opening period, which included a wonderful round of applause in the 44th minute for Nic Cruwys, but 1-0 was how it stayed at the interval.

The hosts had a promising situation at the start of the second half when Ben Watson won the ball back and Ighalo’s lay-off released Guedioura on the counter. He found Anya, but the pass wasn’t accurate enough to allow the wide man to maintain the fluidity of the move and although Anya managed to get a cross in, it couldn’t find anyone in yellow.

Instead it was Boro who created the first opening of the half when Reach’s low ball in from the left picked out Adomah but, under pressure, he diverted the ball wide of Gomes’ near post and into the side netting.

Watford’s first effort of the second period came in the 52nd minute when a Tozser through ball gave Ighalo half a yard on the run of his marker but he had to take the shot early and fired straight at Konstantopoulos.

Jokanovic was forced into a change on the hour as Craig Cathcart, after another unfussy but effective performance, went off and was replaced by Matthew Connolly.

Tozser saw a powerfully-struck free-kick deflected behind before Boro made a double alteration, with Kike and Kalas replacing Tomlin and Tiendalli respectively.

Watson saw a good effort deflected behind but in the 65th minute the roof was lifted off Vicarage Road as Watford established clear daylight over their visitors – and in quite stunning fashion.

The ball was played into Ighalo on the edge of the penalty area and the striker took a couple of touches before shifting it onto his left foot to turn away from Woodgate with ease and unleashing a fabulous strike that gave Konstantopoulos no hope as it flew into the far corner to make it 2-0.

That was to be the scorer’s last involvement as he was replaced by Vydra soon after before Guedioura committed one foul too many and was booked.

Reach shot wide at the other end as Boro tried to find a way back into the contest and then Kike headed a cross from the right over.

The hosts were soon back on the front foot though, with Deeney seeing a well-struck effort from range deflected away before the home side nearly scored an outrageous third.

Following a corner, the ball was half-cleared to Guedioura on the edge of the area where the on-loan Crystal Palace midfielder tried a cushioned right-footed lob that was dipping into the far corner until it was superbly tipped behind by Konstantopoulos.

Friend dragged a shot across Gomes' goal and wide after cutting inside the area from the left before Boro made their final change as Adam Forshaw came on for Adam Clayton.

The Hornets hadn’t looked like conceding but they were nearly undone in the last minute of normal time when they stepped up to try and play offside as Kike ran onto a through ball, but Gomes was equal to his shot.

Layun came on for Guedioura in the closing stages and was almost immediately booked for pulling back Leadbitter, as was the Boro midfielder for his actions afterwards. But Watford were able to keep their opponents at bay to spark some jubilant celebrations at the final whistle.

Watford: Gomes; Cathcart (Connolly 60), Angella, Hoban; Paredes, Tozser, Watson, Guedioura (Layun 90), Anya; Deeney, Ighalo (Vydra 69). Not used: Bond, Munari, Pudil, Abdi.

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos; Tiendalli (Kalas 62), Woodgate, Amorebieta, Friend; Clayton (Forshaw 83), Leadbitter; Adomah, Reach, Tomlin (Kike 62); Bamford. Not used: Ripley, Gibson, Whitehead, Vossen.

Bookings: Reach for a foul (26); Guedioura for a foul (70); Layun for a foul on Leadbitter (90); Leadbitter for pulling back Layun (90).

Attendance: 19,656 (1,916 away).

Referee: Mike Jones.