Only goal difference is keeping Watford out of the bottom three in the Championship tonight after they amazingly led Blackpool three times yet somehow managed to lose 4-3 at Vicarage Road this afternoon.

The Hornets were leaking goals at an alarming rate as it was coming into the game, but the nature of this loss ensured new depths were reached as Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Alan Gow scored in the last eight minutes to turn the game on its head for the visitors.

Earlier, a Tommy Smith penalty had looked to have earned a first win in four after goals by Will Hoskins and Grzegoz Rasiak had been cancelled out by Keith Southern and Ben Burgess respectively.

Despite losing 2-0 at Preston North End in mid-week, Aidy Boothroyd kept faith with the same starting line-up.

It was the visitors who made the very early running, forcing a corner inside 40 seconds, but the Hornets then had a half-hearted penalty appeal turned down when John-Joe O’Toole went down under a challenge in the area.

But in the fourth minute Watford took the lead with a wonderfully-crafted goal. A superb back-heel from Rasiak split the visitors’ back-line and put O’Toole and Hoskins both in on goal, and the latter won the race and calmly steered the ball beyond Paul Rachubka to net his fifth of the season and make it 1-0.

The visitors immediately responded with a David Vaughan cross that was flicked off the head of Ben Burgess, but it only went as far as Gary Taylor-Fletcher on the right side of the area. His goal-bound effort was blocked by O’Toole and Southern fired the rebound from the edge of the area over.

But a good start for the Hornets almost got even better after seven minutes when Smith found Hoskins in space on the right side of the area and he cut infield before striking a low shot which beat Rachubka at his near post, only to rebound back across the area off the woodwork.

Blackpool then made most of the running, but Watford maybe could have scored again in the 16th minute when Jon Harley found himself in plenty of space in midfield. He spread the ball to his left where Hoskins sent in a low, teasing cross, but the outstretched right leg of Rasiak wasn’t quite able to divert the ball on target. And the Hornets were made to pay for their misses inside two minutes.

After John Eustace had committed a foul on the edge of the D, the wall did its job when Claus Jorgensen tried to blast his shot through it, but the ball then rebounded to Southern who struck a superb first-time low left-footed drive that beat the dive of Richard Lee as it zipped inside his left-hand post.

The game then began to settle down after a frantic opening and there was little goalmouth action of note until the 28th minute when Ian Evatt nearly gifted the Hornets the lead back, heading a Smith cross from the right by-line back across his own keeper and only just over the crossbar.

But Watford did regain the advantage in straightforward fashion nine minutes before the interval. Harley whipped in a free-kick from right of centre and Rasiak simply pulled off his man at the back post and sent a looping back and beyond Rachubka to make it 2-1 and score for the second successive home match.

Little then happened until just before the break when Hoskins almost capitalised on a mix-up between Rachubka and Danny Coid, getting in between the pair wide on the right to latch onto a Harley cross, but his attempts to turn the ball into the empty net from some way out lacked both direction and power.

However, it was heart in mouth stuff within seconds as the visitors launched the ball downfield and Darren Ward, who was the last man, got in a tangle with Alan Gow. However, referee Roger East decided no foul had been committed and, instead, booked Southern for protesting.

There was still time in the opening period for Watford to win a corner and Ward flicked Smith’s set-piece from the right beyond Rachubka’s right-hand post.

Blackpool had the first opening of the second half when Taylor-Fletcher got the better of Mat Sadler on the right, but his cross was headed well off-target by Jorgensen.

The home side could then have been caught on the counter again when, from a quickly taken free-kick, Taylor-Fletcher broke down the right and exchanged passes twice with Gow before the latter tamely shot at Lee.

But on 56 minutes Lee was beaten for a second time, and it was the third time in the last three times he would have been disappointed not to keep a goal out. After a Gow shot had been blocked, Burgess hit a left-footed shot from the edge of the area that wrong-footed the keeper and beat him at the near post to make it 2-2.

Boothroyd sent on Lee Williamson for the disappointing O’Toole after 62 minutes and soon after Hoskins wasn’t too far away from picking out Smith’s angled run with a clipped ball over the top. Then, only the outstretched leg of Shaun Barker prevented Rasiak from turning in another dangerous Harley free-kick.

But on 67 minutes Watford were gifted the opportunity to take the lead for a third time when Burgess clearly bundled over Eustace in the box. And unlike seven days ago against Wolves, Smith didn’t spurn the opportunity this time around – driving the ball low down the centre of the goal to make it 3-2.

Within seconds though, Blackpool were almost level again when Burgess came within inches of connecting with a cross from the left, leaving Boothroyd on the sidelines screaming at his defence.

Adam Hammill then came on for Vaughan before Watford spurned a good opportunity to test Rachubka again after 73 minutes when Williamson was felled by Taylor-Fletcher on the edge of the area. But after the Blackpool midfielder had been booked, Williamson curled the free-kick over the top.

Hammill became the third Blackpool player to be cautioned in the 80th minute for a foul on Smith, before Gow struck a rising drive from the edge of the area.

But four minutes later came an absolute horror show in the Hornets penalty area. The home side had two heading opportunities to deal with a cross from the left but didn’t, Lee came for the ball and never got there under pressure from Burgess, and Taylor-Fletcher bundled in the ball off the far post to make it 3-3.

To make matters worse for the home side, Harley was then cautioned for a foul on Barker to ensure he will become the first Watford player to be suspended this season for five yellow cards.

But it did get worse two minutes into injury-time when Gow was played through on the right side of the area and he kept his head to beat Lee with a low cross shot to give Blackpool all three points.

Watford: Lee; Doyley, DeMerit, Ward, Sadler; Smith, Eustace, O’Toole (Williamson, 62), Harley; Rasiak, Hoskins. Not used: McAnuff, Robinson, Mariappa and Tyler.

Blackpool: Rachubka; Barker, Edwards, Evatt, Coid; Taylor-Fletcher, Southern, Jorgensen, Vaughan (Hammill, 69); Burgess, Gow. Not used: Broomes, Fox, Camara and Mitchley.

Bookings: Southern for dissent after 45 mins; Taylor-Fletcher for a foul on Williamson after 73 mins; Hammill for a foul on Smith after 80 mins; Harley for a foul on Barker after 88 mins; Gow for over-celebrating after 90 mins.

Attendance: 13,517.

Referee: Roger East.