performance inspired Watford to a 2-0 Premier League
victory at Stoke City.
Troy Deeney's first Premier League goal of the season helped
inspire Watford to a 2-0 win over Stoke City on Saturday.
The 27-year old was on hand two minutes before half time to
sweep home following some terrific work from Odion Ighalo on
the edge of the area.
Both players had previously been denied by the crossbar in the
space of a few seconds midway through a first half that saw
Stoke dominate possession.
But Deeney's opener saw the visitors grow in confidence and
Quique Sanchez Flores' previously goal-shy side sealed a fine
win on 69 minutes when Almen Abdi hammered home.
The result will be seen as a missed opportunity for Stoke, who
failed to truly test Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes and saw
a three-match winning streak come to an abrupt end.
Meanwhile, a first win in four games boosts Watford and sees
Flores' men leapfrog Saturday's opponents into 13th.
Stoke, unchanged from their win over Swansea, were dealt an
early blow inside a tight opening 10 minutes as Geoff Cameron
limped off with a suspected hamstring injury.
The hosts, who enjoyed the lion's share of possession for much
of the first half, looked the more likely to make a breakthrough
in the opening exchanges.
Charlie Adam missed the target with a trademark drive on the
edge of the box on 16 minutes, before seeing a 30-yard free-kick
deflected wide 10 minutes later.
Marko Arnautovic should have broken the deadlock just before
the half-hour, but could not keep his close-range header down
from Xherdan Shaqiri's whipped cross.
Ighalo had previously scored five of Watford's six league goals
this season and came close to making Stoke pay for that miss,
crashing a header onto the bar, which also denied Deeney's
rebound.
But the visitors were not to be denied for long as Deeney
redeemed himself by coolly slotting home following Ighalo's
clever backheel on the edge of the box.
Ighalo saw a penalty appeal waved away five minutes after the
break as Watford looked increasingly confident, while Philipp
Wollscheid produced a vital block to deny the Nigerian six
minutes later.
Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters were introduced on the hour
as Stoke looked for some attacking potency, but Watford
continued to threaten, doubling their lead nine minutes later.
A mistake by substitute Marc Wilson allowed Ighalo to nip in on
the left, setting up Abdi to thrash home his first Premier League
goal.
It could have been worse for Stoke had Jack Butland not parried
away substitute Juan Paredes' vicious 20-yard strike, but a
disappointing attacking display meant the result was never in
doubt on a difficult 100th game in charge for boss Mark
Hughes.
No comments:
Post a Comment