Watford 1-4 Bristol City: Impressive Robins secure third consecutive win

Cameron Pring's goal put Bristol City ahead

In-form Bristol City made it three wins in a row by thumping Watford at Vicarage Road.

Cameron Pring's opener and an own goal just before half-time by Wesley Hoedt put the visitors in control.

Half-time substitute Giorgi Chakvetadze made an immediate impact, pulling a goal back for Watford four minutes after the interval.

But Mark Sykes scored a minute later and Andreas Weimann capped a resounding Robins victory by adding a late fourth.

It moved City up to eighth in the Championship table, while Watford drop to 10th.

Liam Manning's side went ahead when Watford were unable to fully clear Taylor Gardner-Hickman's free-kick and the ball fell to Pring, who found the bottom corner of the net.

Worse followed for the Hornets when Hoedt, in attempting to stop Tommy Conway's cross reaching Sykes at the far post, diverted the ball into his own net.

Watford made a determined start to the second half and were given hope by Chakvetadze firing past keeper Max O'Leary, after he sprinted away from Gardner-Hickman on the right to collect Yaser Asprilla's pass.

However, Sykes quickly restored his team's two-goal advantage by sliding in to put away the loose ball after Anis Mehmeti's shot had been parried by keeper Ben Hamer.

Weimann - who had two spells on loan at Watford more than a decade ago - sealed City's win with an emphatic strike beyond Hamer, after being allowed time and space to collect Joe Williams' ball over the top.

Watford head coach Valerien Ismael told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"It's a big disappointment. We gave the game away from the first minute. We were, again, too sloppy and lost the ball without any big pressure.

"Sometimes you need to take the responsibility to stay more calm. There were too many mistakes and that made it difficult.

"Two down and you come back into the game 2-1 and then you concede. It's exactly the situation of the game - sloppy, giving the game away.

"The performance is not where we expected the players (to be). We have another game in three days and we need to make sure we recover and go again.

"This is a tough period. Relentless. Anyone can beat anyone. But you have to stay on a level to perform and give you a chance to win the game.

"Today we beat ourselves. Simple as that. We never had control and we beat ourselves. We were too sloppy."

Bristol City head coach Liam Manning told BBC Radio Bristol:

"The performance was excellent. We carried a real threat throughout the game and defended extremely well.

"The scary bit is that I think we can play a lot better than that, when you look at their chances and shifts in momentum that came from us being loose with the ball or making poor decisions.

"That's the bit that excites me - we can be even better than that. But I don't want to take anything away from them. The attitude, togetherness and behaviours were on the money. I'm delighted for the players and staff.

"I thought how we responded to conceding so early in the second half was excellent. We've spoken a lot about staying calm and controlled. The response was pivotal to the outcome of the game."