Adrian Boothroyd felt Watford had picked a good time to play Norwich as the Hornets ran out 3-1 winners.
Adrian Boothroyd felt Watford had picked a good time to play Norwich as the Hornets ran out 3-1 winners.
The Hornets posed a constant threat in the opening stages and their dominance was rewarded after 36 minutes as Darius Henderson netted his ninth goal of the season.
Tommy Smith did well to create space on the right-hand side and his teasing cross was comfortably slotted home from close range by the former Gillingham striker.
The visitors doubled their advantage two minutes before the break as goalkeeper David Marshall made a real mess of Adrian Mariappa's header to record an own goal.
Norwich pulled a goal back after 65 minutes as substitute Lee Croft tapped home from close range, but Marlon King sealed the win two minutes from time.
"The fact that we played on Saturday and they played on Sunday was an advantage for us, there's no doubt about that", Boothroyd said.
Effort
"Norwich put in a tremendous effort to get back into the game against Ipswich (on Sunday), it was like two boxers going toe-to-toe, and I'm sure that took a lot out of them both mentally and physically.
"They looked a little bit leggy in the first half, which you could understand, and we just had too much for them.
"We're delighted to have bounced back from the defeat against West Brom on Saturday and I was particularly pleased with out first-half performance. That's probably the best football we have played all season.
"We are looking to add to the efficiency that everyone always talks about and I think you could see that in the way we knocked the ball around at times."
Disappointed
"I was disappointed when we switched off at the back and let them back into the game, but after taking our foot off the pedal we put it back on again and got the third goal. I was delighted when that went on because 2-1 is always a horrible score."
New Norwich manager Glenn Roeder was disappointed with the poor defending that led to Watford's crucial second goal.
"It was a very cheap goal to concede," he said.
"Players are given instructions on who to pick up at set pieces and when they don't do that it is very disappointing. One particular player had let us down badly and that is just not acceptable. He knows who he is."
Roeder added: "I actually thought we started well enough but as the game went on we could not get a grip on the game at all.
"I thought we did well enough in the second half but I never felt as confident that we would pull things back as I did against Ipswich.
"I expect to take points at every home game so I was disappointed at the end but you have got to accept that Watford are a very good side."
