Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Middlesbrough and Watford at the Riverside Stadium as Chuba Akpom and Marcus Forss steered Michael Carrick's side to victory.
Saturday 28 January 2023 18:25, UK
Middlesbrough leapfrogged Watford to move into third position in the Sky Bet Championship table as they claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over the Hornets at the Riverside.
First-half goals from Chuba Akpom and Marcus Forss enabled Boro to bounce back in impressive fashion following last weekend's North East derby defeat by Sunderland.
Michael Carrick's side were dominant throughout, with January signing Cameron Archer impressing as he made his first start for the club.
Archer had recorded three substitute appearances following his loan move from Aston Villa and his willingness to run beyond the final defender asked questions of the Watford defence all afternoon.
He helped set up Akpom for a third-minute shot that was deflected over and came close to scoring himself shortly after the half-hour mark. An explosive burst of pace enabled him to break between two Watford defenders, but Daniel Bachmann got down to his right to keep out the striker's low side-footed effort.
Three minutes later, though, and Archer was involved again as Bachmann was beaten. Having been left one-on-one with an exposed Hassane Kamara, Archer broke into the 18-yard box, only for a heavy touch to enable Bachmann to break off his line to block the England Under-21 international's shot.
Bachmann was at it again when he blocked Akpom's initial follow-up effort, but the ball looped up invitingly for the Championship's leading scorer to head home his 14th league goal of the campaign.
The goal was no more than Boro deserved given their first-half dominance and the Teessiders added a second on the stroke of half-time.
Jonny Howson picked out Forss with a perfectly weighted through ball and, after darting across the face of the area, the Finnish forward slotted a clinical strike into the bottom right-hand corner.
Watford's only first-half effort of note came to nothing when Matheus Martins curled over from the corner of the box, and the fact that Slaven Bilic made three half-time changes summed up what the Hornets boss must have made of his side's performance before the break.
The visitors improved slightly as a result of the alterations, but Tommy Smith produced an excellent challenge to block substitute Tobi Adeyemo's shot after Watford broke downfield following a Boro corner.
That proved a rare moment of alarm for the hosts, and Carrick's side almost added a third goal midway through the second half when Bachmann parried Hayden Hackney's shot. Moments later, an unmarked Paddy McNair fired wide at the back post after Ryan Giles' cross fell into his path.
Middlesbrough's Michael Carrick:
"We played some really good football, stuck to the plan, stuck to the organisation, worked hard for each other and it was a real good team performance.
"In and out of possession, there were some really good things that we've got to take forward."
Watford's Slaven Bilic:
"Before the game, I couldn't wait for the game to start. We had seven points from the last three games, so we had confidence, and we had pace up front, somebody to hold the ball, pace on the flanks and everything we wanted in defence and attack. Every time we passed the ball correctly, we were there in a good situation, but there's no point talking about any of that when you do so many basic things wrong. When you pass the ball to the opposition so many times, and slip so many times too.
"It's impossible to get anything out of the game when you are doing that, and then you concede a goal like that first one - it's sloppy, there's no other word for it. In tennis, they call them unforced errors, and we had simple passes that we got wrong. If you have 10 of them, and then you slip a few times too, then you lose confidence, you are shrinking, and everything comes after that."
