Town picked up their first double of season with a 4-2 win against Watford at Portman Road. Two excellent first half goals from Tommy Miller and Richard Naylor put the Blues in the driving seat but a Tommy Smith goal gave Watford a second half lifeline.

With Mark Venus failing to pass his fitness test and John McGreal out with his knee ligament problem, Matt Holland and Hermann Hreidarsson played either side of Thomas Gaardsøe in defence.

Tommy Miller joined Jermaine Wright and Jim Magilton in midfield with Jamie Clapham and Fabian Wilnis the wing-backs. As usual Pablo Couñago got to start at home, this time alongside Richard Naylor, making his first start of the season. Andy Marshall took over from the injured Paul Gerrard in goal.

The returning Naylor was into the action early with a characteristically solid challenge on Alec Chamberlain in the Watford goal.

Chances in the early stages were few and far between with only Allan Nielsen's wayward effort flying over at one end and Clapham's similarly off target shot at the other worrying the statisticians.

Nielsen had the first real chance of the game on 15 when he had a relatively free header eight yards out from Pennant's cross. The former Spurs man didn't make the greatest of contacts but Andy Marshall still did well to keep it out.

The game really got going around the 20-minute mark. With Watford committing men forward in a manner rarely seen from away teams at Portman Road, Jim Magilton took the ball forward and played it to Pablo Couñago on the right. The Spaniard cut in and passed to Tommy Miller whose shot was blocked by Cox.

A minute or so later Magilton played in Naylor on the right of the penalty area, the striker beating Chamberlain to the ball. Unfortunately for Town there was no one in the six-yard box to finish.

Town's pressure was to result in a goal just seconds later as the game entered the 22nd minute. Tommy Miller, Town's scorer at Liverpool in the Worthington Cup, picked up the ball in space 30-yards out. After a touch or two to set himself he hit a fizzing shot goalwards which left Chamberlain with no chance, the ball nestling to the left of the keeper in the inside of the side-netting.

One of the best goals seen at Portman Road this season, and Miller's first in the league for the Blues, his previous three in either the Worthington or UEFA Cups.

The goal gave Town confidence and not long after Hermann Hreidarsson made a run from the back and exchanged passes with Miller and hit a shot which was blocked. The adventurous Hreidarsson even managed to get a rebound in whilst grounded before the ball was cleared.

Despite most of the game being Town's, but there was action at the other end and just before the half hour Neal Ardley curled a freekick wide of the post.

The earlier goal seemed to give Tommy Miller an appetite for more scoring action and in the 34th minute he hit a low shot which Chamberlain did well to save after excellent work on the right from Fabian Wilnis.

A minute later Heidar Helguson, Hermann Hreidarsson's Icelandic international team-mate, tried an adventurous overhead kick, but the ball flew well over Andy Marshall's goal.

Town were to go further ahead in the 39th minute as they again broke quickly. Pablo Couñago lent a helping hand with the defending, dispossessing Ardley 15 yards inside the Town half on the Blues' right flank. The Spaniard took the ball forward before hitting a glorious cross-field pass to Richard Naylor. He held off a number of defenders and hit a low shot to Chamberlain's right and into the net.

Few players will have needed a goal more than Naylor, out for so long with knee problems and out of favour and on loan elsewhere for a lot of last season. It was his first since the opening home game of last season against Derby County and one which settled the Portman Road nerves.

With three minutes of the half left there was a scare for Town when Thomas Gaardsøe hammered a clearance straight at Tommy Smith on the edge of the area. Fortunately the striker failed to get the ball under control and the Dane completed his clearance.

No changes for the Blues at the break, but some minds were clearly elsewhere four minutes into the second period when Helgason broke through on the left. Hreidarsson came across to stop him in his tracks one way or another, and the ball fell to Smith who found himself through one-on-one with Marshall. The highly-rated youngster had little trouble in hitting his shot across the keeper and into the net.

Watford had their best spell of the game in the ten minutes or so after their goal. Town were often pushed back and found it hard to keep hold of the ball in the manner that they had for much of the first half. On 57 Helguson hit a shot wide as, despite having the better of the play, the visitors failed to create too many decent chances.

Joe Royle brought off Richard Naylor on 63, replacing him with Marcus Bent. Naylor had made an important contribution and took his goal well, but after such a long time out was unlikely to have the staying power for a full 90 minutes.

Bent himself has been out for a while, but took only three minutes to make a mark on the game. He did well to take a chest-high ball down and played it wide to the left into the path of the breaking Jamie Clapham. The Town number three tried to turn inside Jermaine Pennant and the ball ran to Tommy Miller. The shot-happy midfielder sent an effort goalward Chamberlain saved to his left but couldn't hold on to. As usual in these situations Pablo Couñago was the first to react, calmly stroking ball into the net for his 11th of the season.

The Watford defence, and particularly Neil Cox, claimed offside, but referee Uriah Rennie and his assistant were unmoved. With a two-goal advantage Town seemed more content to sit back and in the 71st minute Pennant hit a shot which Andy Marshall saved.

Just after the 70th minute Town conceded a number of perhaps unnecessary corners and from the third conceded a second goal, Neil Cox rising unmarked to head in Ardley's kick. While Town seem to be more solid in open play these days the frailties at set pieces are all-too-often evident, particularly corners.

A nervous 15 minutes or so looked to be in store for Town, but Clapham's shot over from the left edge of the penalty area showed that the Blues were still looking for more goals themselves.

With a backs to the wall last ten minutes looking on the cards Joe Royle opted for the pace of Darren Bent as an option up front, Pablo Couñago making way.

But, on 86, Marcus Bent was to settle the game and the nerves of Blues' supporters. Cox, scorer of the second Watford goal, failed to take down a long Town ball forward and Marcus Bent, with his back to the goal, lashed the it beyond Chamberlain and into the net from the edge of the area. It was Bent's third goal of the season and his first in the league since the opening day at Walsall.

In injury time Marcus Bent was put away on the right by Jim Magilton with Fabian Wilnis making his way forward at pace and unchecked. Bent found the Dutchman but Chamberlain did well to save his shot.

A valuable three points for Town then, if not the best performance of the season. Perhaps more importantly three strikers on target and four goals, Tommy Miller's exocet from 30-yards perhaps the best of them.

Town still find themselves in 19th position but, with the Christmas fixtures coming thick and fast, more good results would start to make a climb up the table more visible while the gap to the sides in the bottom five is gradually opening up. However, with Portsmouth up first a good run of results looks like it will require Town to be at their very best.

Photo: Action Images

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