Stoke vs Watford match report: Troy Deeney and Almen Abdi see Hornets bounce back at Potters
Stoke City 0 Watford 2
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Your support makes all the difference.Troy Deeney struck his first goal of the season as Watford ended Stoke’s winning run by beating them 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium.
The Hornets captain – who netted 21 times in the club’s promotion campaign last term – opened the scoring in the 43rd minute from a flick by fellow forward Odion Ighalo, moments after each player had hit the crossbar just seconds apart.
Almen Abdi wrapped things up in the 69th minute following a mistake by Marc Wilson to spoil Mark Hughes’ 100th game in charge of the Potters, who had gone into the match looking for a fourth straight Premier League victory.
The result sees Quique Sanchez Flores’ side leapfrog their hosts in the table, moving up to 13th while Stoke slip to 14th.
The Potters managed to boss possession for much of the first half and had several corners but were unable to really threaten, with Marko Arnautovic somewhat summing things up in the 29th minute when he shouldered a decent opportunity over the bar.
Watford then suddenly sprung into life in attack in the 37th minute, hitting the bar twice in quick succession via Ighalo’s header and a shot from Deeney.
They subsequently grabbed the lead when Ighalo bamboozled Wilson as he cleverly flicked Abdi’s pass to Deeney, who took advantage of a Philipp Wollscheid slip to slot in from the edge of the box.
Hughes looked to shake up his attack on the hour by bringing on strike pair Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters for the misfiring Joselu and Xherdan Shaqiri.
But it was the visitors who found the net soon after as Wilson lost possession to Watford’s Ighalo and he teed up Abdi, who burst forward and smashed the ball past Potters’ goalkeeper Jack Butland.
Stoke City: (4-2-3-1) Butland; Johnson, Cameron (Wilson, 9), Wollscheid, Pieters; Adam, Whelan; Shaqiri (Walters, 60), Bojan, Arnautovic; Joselu (Crouch, 61).
Watford: (4-2-3-1) Gomes; Nyom, Cathcart, Britos, Ake; Capoue, Watson; Abdi (Behrami, 78), Deeney, Anya (Paredes, 66); Ighalo (Guedioura, 89).
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Man of the match: Deeney (Watford)
Match rating: 7/10
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