WATFORD warmed the hearts, if not the bodies, of their small but brave number of fans at a bitterly cold Portman Road on Tuesday, February 22 by scoring a shock 2-1 victory over top-of-the-table Ipswich Town.

Boss Ray Lewington was the first to admit his side had been fortunate after the Tractor Boys spurned a catalogue of excellent opportunities until Tommy Miller converted a late, but wrongly awarded, penalty, but by then the damage had already done by the Hornets thanks to an apparent Richard Naylor own goal and a header from substitute Bruce Dyer, as the visitors scored their first win on their travels since late October.

There was a change in formation and some personnel as Watford returned to action following a ten-day lay-off after their disappointing display at Sunderland. In came Chris Eagles, Dominic Blizzard and Hameur Bouazza as Lewington switched to a 4-5-1 shape. The most notable absentee was the injured Heidar Helguson while Neal Ardley and Lloyd Doyley dropped to the bench.

Ipswich, meanwhile, showed one change to the team that grabbed a fortuitous point at Preston on Friday, with Jim Magilton replacing Darren Currie.

On a particularly impressive pitch given the conditions it was the home side who had the first sight of goal after four minutes when Darren Bent got past Jermaine Darlington rather easily down the right, but his scuffed low centre was not picked up by the in-coming James Scowcroft and ran tamely wide of Paul Jones' right-hand post.

Three minutes later though, Jones was forced to go to ground to block a swerving low Miller shot from the edge of the area with his legs and fortunately for the on-loan keeper the rebound fell to a team-mate.

The home side continued to make most of the early running but the Hornets gradually began to see more of the ball, although they could have been undone after 21 minutes when a long throw from the right was headed down by Jason DeVos but Miller slashed his shot wildly wide. Next Bent forced Jones into a save at his near post with a low drive after the striker had been played in down the inside right channel, and soon after the Watford keeper was on his knees again to save a low effort from Miller.

Bouazza had Watford's first attempt of the evening on the half-hour with a looping header that was deflected over following the visitors' first corner, but despite not creating the chances the Hornets would have been largely content with their work in an opening period that could have got even better in injury-time when Johnnie Jackson's whipped in corner from the left got stuck between David Unsworth's legs but the rebound didn't fail favourably.

The home fans were getting increasingly agitated as the half drew to a close and that feeling intensified significantly in stoppage-time when Watford took a shock lead. After a good period of possession a James Chambers cross was partially cleared out to Gavin Mahon who knocked it sideways to Neil Cox on the right. Cox swung over a good cross but Naylor, under heavy pressure from Jay DeMerit, seemed to lose the flight of the ball and only succeeded in heading it with the side of his head beyond the despairing dive of Kelvin Davis to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage at an ideal time.

However, the Tractor Boys came within inches of drawing level within three minutes of the restart when the ball was clipped forward to Bent, who got between Chambers and Cox and outpaced the pair and flicked his attempt wide of Jones but just the wrong side of the keeper's left-hand upright.

It also took an excellent saving tackle from DeMerit to prevent Bent from getting in a shot on 62 minutes after the livewire forward had broken clear down the right and checked back into the area, and then neither Scowcroft or DeVos could got on the end of a cross from substitute Currie following an excellent reverse pass from Magilton.

With the snow now falling for the first time in the match, Watford had another let off when Jones could only parry Currie's stinging angled drive into the path of Miller, but he fired wide under a challenge from close range, and then Bent blazed high and wide from the edge of the area after getting round Chambers.

Watford's goal led a charmed life again after 72 minutes when DeMerit, seemingly thinking that Jones would come and claim, let Currie's lofted ball forward from the left clear his head and Bent, sensing the opportunity, nipped in but volleyed over, with the Watford keeper stranded.

But having been on the back foot for a good ten minutes, Watford so nearly scored a stunning second when Blizzard worked the ball back to Darlington on the left, and his instant cross was met by a terrific volley from Jackson that Davis could only stand and admire as it fizzed narrowly wide of his right-hand post.

Back came Ipswich though, with Miller striking another clear-cut opportunity wide of the target on the turn after Bent had pulled free at the back post to head back a deep Magilton cross from the left, before Watford introduced Dyer for Webber.

But just as the snow turned into a blizzard, Watford silenced the home faithful for a second time although, admittedly, they were gifted a corner after a complete breakdown in communication among the Ipswich defenders led to Kevin Horlock needlessly putting the ball behind. However, the visitors were in no mood to turn gifts down and Jackson whipped in an excellent set-piece from the left and Dyer was left completely unmarked to head home from around eight yards.

Substitute Dean Bowditch fired narrowly over from 20 yards, before Watford might have had a third when Chambers played in the ball from the right, Blizzard headed down but Davis just got to it ahead of Dyer.

Ipswich proceeded to miss two more gilt-edged chances first with Unsworth volleying over from inside the six-yard box after DeVos had flicked on a Magilton corner from the right and then when Cox misjudged the flight of a ball over his head and Bent nipped in, lobbed Jones only to see the ball cannon back off the woodwork before they finally did pull a goal back on 86 minutes when Miller tucked a penalty low to Jones' left after Watford were harshly adjudged to have conceded the spot-kick when Scowcroft's raised hand, and not the nearby Cox or Mahon, appeared to have made contact with the ball; a suspicion later confirmed by TV replays.

There were a few edgy moments in the five minutes of stoppage-time, none more so than when Currie fired in a low drive from 20 yards that was heading for the bottom corner until Jones pushed it round his near post. Even so, Watford should still have had a third when they broke upfield and Chambers played in Dyer on the left side of the area. With only one defender in the way, he could have squared to the unmarked Bouazza but instead went for a shot and curled it just wide of the far post.

Ipswich Town: Davis; Wilnis, DeVos, Naylor, Unsworth; Miller, Magilton, Horlock, Westlake; Bent, Scowcroft. Substitutes: Currie for Westlake after 55 mins; Bowditch for Wilnis after 78 mins; Richards, Karbassiyoon and Price not used.

Watford: Jones; Chambers, Cox, DeMerit, Darlington; Eagles, Mahon, Jackson, Blizzard, Bouazza; Webber. Substitutes: Dyer for Webber after 76 mins; Doyley for Eagles after 88 mins; Ardley, Young and Chamberlain not used.

Bookings: Scowcroft for persistent fouling after 50 mins.

Attendance: 23,993.

Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).