Watford beat top of the table Middlesbrough 2-0 to send the Hornets top for a few hours yesterday.

Troy Deeney made history when he opened the scoring to become Watford’s first player to score more than 20 goals in three successive seasons.

Odion Ighalo doubled the lead midway through the second half, with manager Slavisa Jokanovic saying afterwards that the performance was a “completely good game.”

He said: “I must be happy. It’s a good result for us. We played a very good game today and, like always, I will try to prepare for what is in front of us.

“I think my team played a very good game against a strong team like Middlesbrough. We stopped them and we found the space to start to play the football we strive for. We attacked very well and we defended very well and in my opinion we made one completely good game.”

Boro boss Aitor Karanka was disappointed but highlighted the quality of Watford’s strikers as a key difference between the two sides.

“It’s frustrating because we played against a team which is in our same position but after the game you can feel and you can see the difference in both teams,” the Spanish coach said.

“It’s easy for me to say we didn’t play well today but we didn’t play well because we played against a team which, without a lot of chances, scored two goals and that’s the difference when you have three strikers who have scored more than 50 goals in a season.”

Elsewhere, Bournemouth returned to the top of the table after coming back from 2-0 to win 4-2 over Birmingham.

Strikes from Steve Cook, Callum Wilson, Charlie Daniels and a Yann Kermorgant penalty helped Bournemouth equal their club record of 104 goals in a single season.

Birmingham, who had captain Paul Robinson sent off late on, had looked to be heading for a surprise win when
Clayton Donaldson and David Cotterill struck twice in three first-half minutes.

Blackpool were relegated from the Championship after Rotherham beat Brighton.

The Tangerines play Reading tonight but needed the Seagulls to do them a favour to give them any chance of staying up this season.

Matt Derbyshire’s eighth-minute goal gifted Rotherham the win, lifting them up to 20th and now seven points from safety.