Watford 2-1 West Brom: Vakoun Bayo scores twice as Hornets beat Baggies to boost Championship play-off hopes

Two sweetly-taken goals by Vakoun Bayo gave Watford a 2-1 victory over West Brom at Vicarage Road that lifted Tom Cleverley's side back into play-off contention.

The Ivory Coast striker glanced home a first-half header before superb control on his chest ended with a shot on the swivel early in the second period.

The victory lifted Watford above their opponents and into seventh place in the Championship, behind Middlesbrough only on goal difference, while West Brom saw a 12-game unbeaten run come to an end.

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Bayo's nine league goals this season have been split across just five games, including four in a 6-2 win at Hull last month.

The 27-year-old is notoriously inconsistent in front of goal and even in this game wasted two opportunities that were every bit as presentable as the two he took.

Bayo made space to accept a Giorgi Chakvetadze pass in the eighth minute but then took a clumsy touch and chose to try and find a team-mate instead of attempting a shot. The move ground to a shuddering halt.

Bayo made amends in the 35th minute as he neatly converted a clipped cross from Rocco Vata, who had earlier struck the West Brom crossbar with a rising drive.

The visitors created few opportunities, although Jayson Molumby will have cursed when his goal-bound shot was blocked by his team-mate Tom Fellows.

They then tip-toed their way into the Watford area on the stroke of half-time, only for the final exchange between Callum Styles, Josh Maja and Karlan Grant to be at such close range that the ball simply bounced off Grant's foot in the end and rolled towards grateful Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann.

They were punished within five minutes of the restart but not before Bayo had struck a close-range volley into the midriff of West Brom stopper Alex Palmer.

His goal three minutes later, taking another Vata cross on his chest before sweeping home in a single movement, was glorious.

West Brom looked beaten at that point but restored hope when Molumby side-footed home after a Mikey Johnston shot had been blocked by Ryan Porteous.

Suddenly they regained hope and roused their travelling supporters as the game swayed from one end to the other.

Kwadwo Baah saw a shot blocked by Baggies skipper Kyle Bartley before Bachmann was needed to preserve Watford's victory, punching away a Darnell Furlong header in stoppage time.

The managers

Watford's Tom Cleverley:

"Against a really strong team with a top coach, that's the performance that has pleased me the most.

"We knew that this was a big game. We highlighted that with the players in a meeting on Friday morning when we addressed the players.

"It felt like it was two teams who have the same ambitions and same objectives and with everyone around us winning yesterday, that pressure was compounded, so I'm hugely proud of the players.

"I was really, really pleased with how we didn't sit back and try and defend the lead. This is our home and we have a real connection with the supporters.

"If we can just improve the away form a little bit, we'll be in a strong position. Now it's about being able to consistently churn out the results against all teams in the division."

West Brom's Carlos Corberan:

"We didn't start the second half well. They created a couple of crosses into the box even before the second goal.

"But for the goal, I think there was a foul on Josh Maja. I saw a foul. Josh said that he was fouled. The interpretation of the referee was that it wasn't a foul. And it is the referee who decides.

"It's a difficult defeat to accept but at the same time it is a defeat.

"In the first half we created enough goal possibilities to score and we finished the first half with a massive chance. If we had scored that goal, probably the result would have been different.

"We finished the game with the feeling that we wanted. In the last 15 minutes we understood the way to create chances. The feeling that I have now is that it is a pity that we could not create more."

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