Norwich City 3-0 Watford

Bradley Johnson scored three Premier League goals last season

Neil Adams claimed his first win as Norwich City boss seven games into his tenure with a resounding win over 10-man Watford.

Hornets defender Joel Ekstrand saw red after just two minutes for a collision with Nathan Redmond.

Norwich pinned back the visitors and Bradley Johnson's superb 20-yard finish had them in front before half-time.

And two goals in as many minutes from Lewis Grabban and Alexander Tettey finished off Beppe Sannino's side.

Adams had failed to keep the Canaries in the Premier League during his five games in charge last season and suffered an opening-day loss to Wolves last week, but his first win as a manager owed much to Ekstrand's sending off in the opening minutes.

The Swede seemed to catch Redmond with his arm when the pair were chasing a ball over the top and, after advice from his assistant, referee Paul Tierney produced a red card as the Norwich winger received treatment for a bloodied nose.

A reshuffled Hornets side who, like Norwich, have designs on promotion this season, survived heavy Canaries pressure for half an hour until Johnson clipped a clever effort over the head of Heurelho Gomes and into the net.

Watford had showed their quality last week with a 3-0 defeat of Bolton and, while this loss at Carrow Road revealed little more about their promotion prospects, they did show resolve after the break and found an outlet through substitute Lloyd Dyer, who worked a save from John Ruddy.

But Kyle Lafferty, a bustling and imposing presence up front for the Canaries, could have twice extended Norwich's lead before Grabban, a summer signing from Bournemouth, claimed his first goal for the club with an effort that spun off the back of Gabriele Angella and looped over Gomes.

Norwich displayed a ruthlessness rarely seen last season as Tettey rifled in a third from the edge of the area moments later to finally hand Adams a much-needed win.

Norwich City boss Neil Adams:

"I was very pleased with how we applied ourselves. Of course the sending off is a massive turning point.

"When you've got that numerical advantage for such a long time you've got to be patient. You have to keep the ball and you have to keep it with quality. I thought we did that throughout the game.

"I've not seen the sending off incident. I saw Nathan on the floor and straight away you're looking at the officials.

"Obviously they've seen enough to give a red card. Nathan said he didn't know what had hit him. He said he felt a bang and went down."

Watford boss Beppe Sannino:

"The referee for me has made a big decision. The situation is not clear.

"I will have to speak to Ekstrand, but for now I will think about the next match.

"Norwich played well. We should have been more compact with 10 men.

"Eleven against 11 this could have been a different match.

"Appealing against the red card is an option. We will watch it back."