THE few hundred Watford fans who made the 550-mile round trip to Sunderland probably returned home wondering why they'd bothered after the Hornets were beaten 4-2 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, February 12.

Ray Lewington's men were poor from start to finish and should have conceded more than a hat-trick from Marcus Stewart and a goal from Chris Brown, and the fact that substitute Bruce Dyer struck twice late on did little to disguise the inadequate and unacceptable nature of the visitors' performance.

The Watford boss made one change to the side that beat Gillingham with James Chambers, having recovered from the virus which sidelined him last weekend, coming in on the right side of midfield for Paul Devlin, who was suffering from a toe injury. Sunderland, meanwhile, were unchanged from the team which drew at Wolves.

Both sides spent the opening minutes coming to terms with the strong, swirling wind but Watford had the better of what little early pressure there was.

The first opening finally arrived after 11 minutes and it was a good one for the home side. Carl Robinson played the ball down the inside left channel and Stewart got in behind Lloyd Doyley, letting the ball bounce before hitting a left-footed half-volley on the turn across goal which Paul Jones did well to push it behind.

Gavin Mahon pulled the Hornets' first attempt wide after 16 minutes from 20 yards, but within 60 seconds the Black Cats were in front. Stephen Elliott was played in behind a square Watford defence on the right and he advanced to the by-line before flighting over a perfect cross, leaving Stewart with a routine header from inside the six-yard box to make it 1-0.

Boosted by the goal, Sunderland looked the brighter side but nothing of significance happened until 31 minutes when George McCartney tricked his way past Chambers on the left side of the area and was clearly bought down. Stewart made no mistake with the penalty, hesitating in his run up and sending the ball high to Jones' left, with the keeper having decided to dive the other way, to double his side's advantage.

What was already an embarrassing first-half display by the Hornets almost got even worse three minutes before the interval when Dean Whitehead picked out Julio Arca on the left side of the area with worrying ease, and the midfielder cracked an instant volley past Jones, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Watford did muster a couple of on-target attempts after that, with Danny Webber having a shot blocked and Heidar Helguson heading at Thomas Myhre, but there were no other redeeming features from a thoroughly abject first-half performance by the visitors.

Lewington resisted what must have been an immensely strong temptation to make changes at the interval, but within six minutes of the restart his side were three down in almost comical circumstances. The ball was hooked forward by McCartney and it bounced up as Jones came to claim it on the edge of his area. However, Jones mis-judged the bounce and it went up and through his hands and although Jay DeMerit tried to bail out his keeper, Stewart nipped in first to slide the ball into the empty net to complete his treble.

Helguson came close to pulling one back for Watford on 56 minutes when he capitalised on some hesitation between Gary Breen, who was trying to shepherd the ball back to his keeper, and Myhre but he prodded an attempt wide of the post after Neil Cox had launched the ball forward.

However, the visitors were nearly caught out again soon after when Arca's clearance forward momentarily threatened to put Elliott in the clear but Chambers got back to narrow the angle and block his shot, but Sunderland should have had a fourth after 66 minutes when Stephen Wright was played in after a surging run forward and he lifted the ball over Jones but wide of the far post.

Substitute Chris Eagles then curled a free-kick narrowly over from 25 yards after Jackson had been caught in the head by a boot, before Jones did well to recover and push behind an Elliott shot after Watford had failed to clear their lines when the keeper had punched clear a Wright cross, but from the resultant corner the Black Cats made it 4-0 after 72 minutes. McCartney played the ball in from the left deep to the back post, a largely unchallenged Robinson headed down and substitute Brown couldn't miss from just in front of goal.

Watford finally gave their fans something to cheer about with 15 minutes left when Jermaine Darlington crossed from the left, Eagles headed down and Dyer spun and fired the ball into the roof of the net to make it 4-1.

But the four-goal advantage should have been restored on 78 minutes when Elliott somehow contrived to mis-hit the ball into Jones' arms from scarcely two yards out after Whitehead had been given the freedom of the left side of the Watford area.

It then required an excellent save from Jones with four minutes later to stop Sunderland from making it five when Brown struck a fine curling effort from 20 yards that was heading for the top corner after Neil Cox had slipped under pressure from the substitute.

Watford nearly gift-wrapped the Black Cats another goal in injury-time when Darlington played Jones into trouble with a ludicrous pass across his area, but instead it was the visitors who scored again when Mahon crossed from the right and Dyer managed to guide the ball inside Myhre's far post, but it was of little consolation after an instantly forgettable day at the office for the Hornets.

Sunderland: Myhre; Wright, Breen, Caldwell, McCartney; Whitehead, Whitley, Robinson, Arca; Elliott, Stewart. Substitutes: Brown for Stewart after 66 mins; Welsh, Thornton, Collins and Alnwick not used.

Watford: Jones; Doyley, Cox, DeMerit, Darlington; Chambers, Mahon, Jackson, Ardley; Helguson, Webber. Substitutes: Eagles for Doyley after 54 mins; Dyer for Helguson after 69 mins; Young for Ardley after 83 mins; Blizzard and Chamberlain not used.

Bookings: Jackson for a foul on Stewart after 51 mins.

Attendance: 24,948.

Referee: Tony Bates (Stoke).