3 things we clearly learnt about Watford after their 2-0 win v Reading | OneFootball

Watford put Saturday’s defeat to Coventry City behind them last night as they beat Reading 2-0 in Championship action at Vicarage Road.

The Hornets started the far better of the two sides, looking threatening in the early stages before Joao Pedro was wrestled to the ground by Ovie Ejaria to win a penalty.

The young Brazilian duly stepped up from the penalty spot to fire Watford into an early lead.

To give credit to the away side, with Watford unable to find a second goal, they began to come back into things, and at the start of the second half, looked the most likely of the two teams to find the back of the net.

However, as the half wore on, Watford began to regain an element of control, and the three points were finally sealed when Joao Pedro fired home for his second of the evening in the 87th minute.

With that said, here are three things we learnt about the Hornets during the match.

Kalu can contribute

One thing we continued to learn is that Watford wide man Samuel Kalu can contribute in a positive way this season.

The Hornets signed the 25-year-old back in January, but he was rarely seen in a Watford shirt since, and at the start of this season, he was injured, leaving fans confused about his situation at the club.

However, after returning to fitness in recent weeks, he has shown in a few substitute cameos that he is an asset for the club to have this season.

When he came on last night, Watford had lost control of the game, and the Nigerian instantly provided a threat down the left hand side.

He is direct and prepared to take a man on, which, when trying to kill off a game is vital.

He was excellent as a substitute once again, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Slaven Bilic play him from the start away at Bristol City this weekend.

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NATHAN AKE

Sema’s versatility continues to show

Last night, we also learned that Ken Sema has another position he can do a job in for the Hornets.

With Hassane Kamara suspended and no natural replacement in the squad, Slaven Bilic turned to the Swede to fill the void.

It isn’t the first time he has played out of position this season after featuring at left-wing-back under Rob Edwards earlier this campaign.

Nevertheless, Sema did the job, and with seemingly minimal fuss.

He is a very good asset to have for Watford this season, not only because of his ability at this level, but his versatility, too.

Must kill games off sooner

Although Watford did take all three points on the night, at times, they made real hard work of it.

That is no disrespect to Reading, but Watford in the first half were clearly on top prior to their goal, and when taking the lead, you just felt the players perhaps took their foot off the gas slightly.

As such, Reading were well and truly in the game, particularly in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and if the visitors had found an equaliser, Watford could have had no complaints.

Eventually, Joao Pedro sealed all three points with three minutes remaining, but Watford need to go for that second, and even third goal much sooner in these matches in order to kill their opponents off.