Watford 1-2 Cardiff City: Callum Robinson double earns victory for Bluebirds

Callum Robinson scored twice as Cardiff clinched their first away win of the season and ended Watford's unbeaten home run with a 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road.

Robinson opened the scoring in the first minute and grabbed another before half-time, shortly after Giorgi Chakvetadze had equalised, to dent the hosts' play-off hopes.

The Bluebirds made three changes from their Boxing Day defeat at Oxford, with Jesper Daland, Cian Ashford and Robinson coming in.

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Vakoun Bayo, Rocco Vata, Edo Kayembe and Ryan Andrews came in for the Hornets, who were on a 17-game undefeated streak at home.

The visitors drew first blood within the first 60 seconds. Callum O'Dowda fed the ball through to Robinson, who was able to turn inside the area and fire low past the outstretched Daniel Bachmann.

Cardiff were good value for their lead, as Watford struggled to get to grips with the early stages of the contest.

Vata fired over the bar from 10 yards after 17 minutes in the first half-chance for the hosts.

Cardiff could have doubled their advantage on 34 minutes, when Ashford just failed to connect to a dangerous low cross from Robinson.

They were made to pay for that miss four minutes later when Vata's cross was too strong for Moussa Sissoko but Chakvetadze latched onto it and curled into the corner from close range.

Any hopes Watford had of building on the equaliser were swiftly checked, however, as Cardiff retook the lead. Ashford got in behind Yasser Larouci before squaring to the unmarked Robinson, who slotted home under barely any pressure.

The second half started off as frustratingly for the hosts as the first had finished, with Cardiff comfortably dealing with any threat and notably growing in confidence themselves.

Substitute Ollie Tanner was denied a third of the afternoon for Cardiff, when he picked up a wayward ball from Larouci on 76 minutes, and saw his composed effort well saved by Bachmann.

The home team were pushed into attacking for the final 10 minutes of the contest, having not created a single effort of note in the second period as they looked to maintain their unbeaten run.

Cardiff defender Dimitrios Goutas nearly added a third from a free-kick with a glancing header with two minutes of normal time remaining.

Watford continued to underwhelm in seven minutes of stoppage time, with the reaction of both sets of fans at the final whistle telling the story.

The managers

Watford's Tom Cleverley:

"The poor starts are something you try and get to the bottom of, as a coach. The logistics of the day, the hotel last night, the warm-up, the tactics, you're trying to tick off every box and with trial and error get to the solution.

"Sometimes we're guilty of having the mindset of not throwing the first punch. We need to get out of that habit.

"I do think a part of it is that we're going through a patch that we're getting punished the first opportunity of the game.

"We have to get to a stage where we stop doing that. Today we go into three challenges very half-hearted - again, not wanting to throw the first punch - and we're nowhere near intense enough in our approach.

"Again, approaching games with a passive mindset."

Cardiff's Omer Riza:

"I was taken aback by the reaction after the first goal. It was a really nice touch from Callum, and it was nice to see the boys come over.

"It shows the togetherness the boys have got, and the respect they have for me, which is a lovely moment for me.

"Callum is the best finisher we've got at the club, he's a great finisher period, he hasn't played the last few games because I've given him a rest.

"Tough place to come, they're doing a great job this year, top six at the moment, made this place a fortress, not losing in 17.

"It was a good game for us, we needed it and I'm not really bothered where it comes from, the three points."

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