Watford 0 West Bromwich 3: The summit meeting that stung Hornets

The room was full even though it was still early, and people were hurrying in for the match between the two best teams in the division. Yes, Arsenal against Manchester United was showing in Watford's press area and no one wanted to miss a beat.

One division down from that particular encounter, with 18,000 or so in attendance as opposed to the one billion tuning in to the Emirates, West Bromwich Albion swiftly went two goals up in their summit meeting against the Championship leaders. None of the numbers was adding up for Watford.

Yet still the Hornets are top, five points clear of Bristol City, while West Bromwich lag a further point behind, and Watford's manager, Aidy Boothroyd, to misquote Alan Partridge, will always try to extract a positive from a negative. To wit: "If we're in this position again in four games' time, then I might have a slight concern. But I think it's a decent result and it's one we need to build on."

The Hornets' manager saw his team built on sand on Saturday. He lost centre-half Jay DeMerit after 10 minutes, his team were being outfought and out-thought and, after little more than half an hour, they were staring at the end of their unbeaten home record this season.

Yet Boothroyd had actually been expecting this sort of result and not just because he had picked up the manager of the month award for October, the sort of present managers would prefer not to get, as it usually presages defeat. He said. "I keep telling the players we're only ever one game away from a hammering."

They got that at Vicarage Road all right, as Tony Mowbray's Albion side waded in, then waited for things to settle down and picked them off.

The attractive football that Mowbray has got his team playing had to wait but showed itself after Ishmael Miller tucked away Robert Lee's save from Kevin Phillips, and then Phillips guided in Albion's second only two minutes later. Martin Albrechtsen's header, when unmarked from a Jonathan Greening free-kick, confirmed victory for the Baggies.

It comes as quite a shock to see any team at this level trying to slow, rather than quicken, the pace, but, with their advantage, Albion were happy to pass it to feet and their midfield quartet are all happy on the ball.

Not that it did much for local morale and, unlike a certain match in London, fans were drifting away long before the final whistle. The top games in the first two divisions were only 19 miles apart on Saturday but the Championship will always be a very different place.

Goals: Miller (33) 0-1; Phillips (35) 0-2; Albrechtsen (49) 0-3

Watford (4-4-2): Lee; Doyley, DeMerit (Mariappa, 10), Shittu, Stewart; Smith, O'Toole, Mahon, Johnson; King (William-son, 66), Henderson (Ellington, 72). Substitutes not used: McAnuff, Priskin.

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): Kiely; Hoefkens, Albrechtsen, Cesar, Robinson; Gera, Morrison (Brunt, 63), Koren, Greening; Phillips (Teixeira, 81), Miller (Bednar, 63). Substitutes not used: Barnett, Pele.

Booked: Watford Shittu, O'Toole; WBA Greening, Cesar.

Referee: M Jones (Cheshire).

Man of the match: Greening.

Attendance: 18,273.