Watford thrash Sheffield Wednesday

Watford managed their first away win since October 5, 2013 with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship this afternoon.

The away side took the lead in the fifth minute when Chris Kirkland could only push Lewis McGugan's header into the path of Gabriele Angella, who bundled the ball home from close range.

In the 22nd minute, Daniel Pudil skipped away from his man and picked out McGugan at the near post to make it 2-0.

Wednesday's only real chance of the first half fell to Benik Afobe, but Manuel Almunia dived low to his left to deny the young forward.

However, Troy Deeney extinguished any lingering hopes of an Owls comeback within four minutes of the restart when he raced away from a flat-footed home defence and kept his cool to slot the ball beyond Kirkland.

Deeney grabbed his second of the afternoon - and his 20th of the season - just a minute later when he tapped home after Mathias Ranegie's strike had bounced back off the post and fell kindly at his feet.

Afobe reduced the arrears three minutes later with a neat header to cap off an exciting 10 minutes immediately after the break, but Watford held on to secure all three points.