Watford manager Tom Cleverley hailed veteran Moussa Sissoko for the goal that clinched a 2-1 win at home to Derby and kept his side’s 100 per cent start to the season intact.
Ebou Adams volleyed the Rams into an early lead but Vakoun Bayo replied with an outrageous scissor-kick on the half-hour.
Sissoko had the last word, scoring on the rebound in the 76th minute to make it three Championship wins out of three for the club he rejoined in the summer.
Watford have also won an EFL Cup tie; only twice before in their history as a league club have they begun with four straight wins.
Sissoko, 35, has been impressive in midfield, having spent two seasons at Nantes after his first Watford spell ended in 2022.
“He is pivotal to what we are trying to do,” said Cleverley, who is in his first full campaign as Watford manager and has handed Sissoko the captain’s armband.
“He is our on-field organiser with his game intelligence and experience and in these kind of moments he is different class.
“And when someone looks after their body the way he has his whole career the ageing process is a very slow one.
“He is one of those figures, when you line up as an opposition player against him he has got a presence, an aura about him. He is a winner so he ticks a lot of boxes for us.”
Cleverley also praised striker Bayo, who astonished everyone with his acrobatic equaliser from Mattie Pollock’s long diagonal ball into the box.
“It was a moment of magic from Bayo,” he said. “It’s great technique. He does an absolutely fantastic job for the team.
“Before the game we spoke to him and said ‘the work you do for the team, you deserve to get goals’.
“I would probably prefer it to be a six-yard goal or something like that but he showed his quality.”
Derby manager Paul Warne was also impressed. “The volley was a joke and if I wasn’t working for Derby I would have clapped it,” he said.
The result was a setback after the Rams picked up their first win since promotion, 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough last week.
“I thought it was a pretty entertaining game,” Warne added. “We came with a game plan to try and frustrate Watford.
“My disappointment was when we did have chances to counter, the final ball wasn’t good enough.
“It could be that they are colour-blind, that would be the worst case. You are only talking about six inches with the pass.
“My players can do it, I see them in training all the time.”
Warne will have to make do without assistant Richie Barker by his side next time out after he was shown a red card for his part in a disagreement between players and coaches of both sides in front of the dugouts just before half-time.
“The linesman gave us a throw-in, they had a player who was struggling physically and this is elite sport – you smell blood and try to take advantage,” Warne explained. “We threw it in and the referee brought it back – I don’t know for what reason.
“We were frustrated and whether Richie said anything to the fourth (official) I don’t know.”
“It looked like it was harsh at the time,” was Cleverley’s verdict. “A few fiery words were exchanged but I don’t think anything untoward was said.”
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