Newcastle United vs Watford. Premier League.
St James' Park, NewcastleAttendance47,806.
Saturday 19 September 2015 19:59, UK
Odion Ighalo continued his fine goalscoring form as Watford claimed consecutive Premier League victories for the first time in 16 years with a 2-1 win at Newcastle.
Fresh from sealing Watford's first win of the season against Swansea last weekend, Ighalo needed just 10 minutes to open the scoring at St James' Park when his low near-post finish beat Tim Krul.
The newly-promoted side outworked their hosts for the majority of the first half on Tyneside and doubled their lead when the Nigeria international latched onto Troy Deeney's through pass, rounded the 'keeper and slipped the ball home on 28 minutes.
The hosts put in an improved display after the break, thanks in part to Daryl Janmaat who halved the deficit shortly after the hour mark.
But Watford held on for their first victory at St James' since 1981, while Steve McClaren's wait for a first victory as Newcastle manager continues.
Both sides made one change ahead of the game, with McClaren calling Ayoze Perez into an attack-minded line-up, while Watford brought in Ben Watson in place of the suspended Valon Behrami.
The visitors had the first opening of the game as Deeney and Almen Abdi combined to set up Ighalo on seven minutes, but the striker dragged his effort wide of the target.
The frantic opening to the game was illustrated moments later when Moussa Sissoko appeared to be tugged in the area, but referee Roger East waved the penalty claims away.
Ighalo's earlier miss proved to be just a sighter as he broke the deadlock in the next attack. Abdi, Deeney and Etienne Capoue all combined to set up the in-form striker and he duly obliged, nestling the ball in the bottom of Krul's goal.
Newcastle rallied and came close to an immediate response as Papiss Cisse inexcusably missed the target with a near-post effort on 14 minutes.
The game then opened up momentarily as both sides exchanged blows before Ighalo struck for his and Watford's second on 28 minutes.
Deeney showed brilliant control to gather a lofted pass up field before having the vision to feed Ighalo in behind the Newcastle rearguard and his strike partner made no mistake.
The Hornets were well worth their half-time lead and McClaren was forced to react at the interval, bringing on Siem de Jong in place of the ineffective Cisse.
The second half took a while to going as Watford defended their lead against a toothless Newcastle attack.
Janmaat then took matters into his own hands, hauling his side to within one goal when he converted Sissoko's hooked pass in the area.
The Dutchman worked tirelessly in pursuit of an equaliser, drawing Heurelho Gomes into a smart save before constantly trying to find team-mates in advanced positions.
But Watford stood firm, surviving a late penalty claim after Sebastian Prodl's challenge on Perez, to win for the second week on the bounce.
Soccer Saturday verdict - Phil Thompson
"There is not really enough in this side to excite the Newcastle fans, particularly in the first half defensively to think they can get a few clean sheets. Wijnaldum was nowhere to be seen in the first half. Thauvin is awful, he just runs with the ball all the time, there's never any end product. He looks very lightweight, and got pushed off by a lot of physical players for Watford. He runs down a lot of blind alleys. There's no sort of creativity from him at all. I am surprised he stayed on as long as he did. The biggest disappointment is Cisse. I questioned whether he would play, or should play and he was on from the start. He was off at half-time. He was dreadful, he probably had the best chance besides the goal they scored.
"Some of the stuff from Watford was fantastic. Two good holding midfields, two players wide, Anya and Abdi have a bit of creativity about them and the centre backs were fantastic. There's a lot of positives all round."
Player ratings
Newcastle: Krul (7), Janmaat (8), Mbemba (7), Coloccini (6), Haidara (6), Wijnaldum (6), Colback (6), Sissoko (7), Perez (6), Thauvin (7), Cisse (8).
Used subs: De Jong (7), Aarons (6), Obertan (5).
Watford: Gomes (7), Nyom (8), Prodl (7), Cathcart (7), Anya (7), Watson (8), Capoue (7), Abdi (7), Deeney (8), Jurado (7), Ighalo (9).
Man of the Match: Odion Ighalo
