Watford 3 Southampton 0

George Burley?s first game in charge of Southampton ended in defeat as Watford brushed aside sorry Saints.

The Hornets recorded their first win in six thanks to the South Coast outfit?s inability to deal with crosses into their penalty area. All three of Watford?s goals came from crosses, with two being from free-kicks.

Darius Henderson, who was making his first start in a yellow shirt since October, broke the deadlock on twenty-eight minutes when powerfully heading home a cross from Scottish international Paul Devlin. Henderson, a 450,000 buy from Gillingham in the summer, was playing in place of Toumani Diagouraga as Aidy Boothroyd?s men reverted to 4-4-2 after starting with a 4-5-1 formation in the 4-1 defeat at Burnley last week.

The creative Anthony McNamee, who was back in the starting line-up at the expense of James Chambers, had a hand in the next two goals. Watford went two-up after McNamee?s free-kick was met with a flick-on from Henderson. The ball fell at the feat of Hornets? centre-half Clarke Carlisle who pounced from close range on twenty-eight minutes.

The festive three-points were effectively sealed two minutes after the interval. Another Anthony McNamee free-kick caused havoc in the visitors penalty area and was turned into the Southampton net by Tomasz Hajto, who had only been on the pitch for two minutes.

The visitors staged a fightback but could not get the goal they needed to get them back into the game. On fifty-eight minutes Hornets? keeper Ben Foster was forced into a double save first from sixsteen year-old Theo Walcott then Brett Omerod. The ball fell at the feat of Nathan Dyer whose initial shot was blocked by Malky Mackay, the ball dropped backed to Dyer and his overhead kick hit the crossbar.

Promotion-chasing Watford play three games in the next seven days starting at bottom-club Millwall at The Den on Tuesday.