Watford’s remote play-off hopes were finally ended at The Walkers Stadium this afternoon as they let a winning position slip and suffered a 4-2 defeat at Leicester City.

The Hornets had taken a 2-1 lead into the break courtesy of a brace from substitute Marvin Sordell. But the visitors had arguably been fortunate not to have been pegged back in the second half before a horrible defensive mix up let in Yakubu for the equaliser.

That swung the momentum in the hosts’ favour and Chelsea loanee Jeff Bruma scored his second long-range blockbuster of the match before Yakubu before the third player to end the game with two goals to his name.

Sordell had been left out in favour of Andi Weimann following a disappointing display against Barnsley two days ago, only to get another chance probably earlier than he expected when the on-loan Aston Villa striker went off injured in the 16th minute. Within 25 minutes of entering the fray, the substitute had netted his first goals since the 4-2 defeat at Cardiff City in January.

With Lloyd Doyley celebrating the 300th start of his Watford career and Don Cowie making his 350th professional club appearance, the match got off to a low-key opening.

It was the hosts who had the first chance of note in the sixth minute when Yuki Abe headed over from eight years from the first corner of the afternoon.

The Foxes continued to have the better of the early possession, winning a second corner in the 12th minute which ended with Patrick Van Aanholt firing an ambitious effort over from 25 yards.

Leicester keeper Chris Weale was called into action for the first time soon after when he had to jump to claim a header from Weimann that could hardly be described as a goal attempt. But the on-loan striker pulled up awkwardly as he landed, was unable to run the injury off and had to be replaced by Sordell.

The substitute came on just as the hosts were preparing to take a free-kick after John Eustace had committed a foul and Paul Gallagher’s attempt from 25 yards was a good one, heading for the top corner of the net until Scott Loach pushed it over.

Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men continued to have the better of the exchanges and their next effort arrived in the 25th minute, again from a corner, when Ben Mee headed over, but the complexion of the game changed three minutes later.

There appeared to be nothing immediately on when Sordell dispossessed Kyle Naughton about ten yards inside his own half but with the Foxes defence back-tracking and Danny Graham up in support, the substitute advanced before curling a majestic 20-yarder beyond Weale and into the far corner to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.

The goal rocked Leicester and soon after Graham was in on the left side of the area after Adrian Mariappa’s ball out of defence was not dealt with, but the visitors’ top scorer was unable to pick out Troy Deeney in the heart of the 18-yard box.

Another opening came and went for the visitors in the 38th minute when, after some fine patient build-up play, the ball was worked out wide to the right where Piero Mingoia crossed but Sordell was unable to direct his header on target.

Mackay’s troops had been looking good to take their lead into the break, but within a minute they found themselves pegged back when Bruma stepped inside and hit a fine right-footed strike from at least 25 yards that beat Loach’s dive and went inside his left-hand post.

Leicester were to be level for less than two minutes though.

This time it was Lee Hodson and Deeney who combined on the right edge of the box, bundling their way through before finding Sordell, who struck a low right-footed effort across Weale and in off his far post to make it 2-1.

The Foxes were again rattled and John Eustace almost set up Graham in the last minute of the opening half, but the hosts then made a change of their own, with Yakubu replacing the injured Richie Wellens before the interval.

Leicester came flying out of the blocks after the restart and the fact they were not level again within 90 seconds of the restart was down to good fortune and a quite brilliant save from Loach.

After Darius Vassell had seen an effort deflected behind with just 20 seconds of the second half on the clock, the resultant corner came out to Mee. His right-footed piledriver was deflected up onto the bar and Loach somehow instinctively saved the follow up before the visitors managed to clear their lines.

The Foxes kept the pressure on though, with an Abe shot from another corner turned the wrong side of the post by the outstretched right leg of Andy King, who was to then curl a left-footed effort over.

Watford did manage to gain some respite from the Blue-shirted tide and won their first corner of the match, which resulted in Hodson crossing to the back post where Graham had pulled off into space but his header didn’t really extend Weale.

An even better opening for the visitors went begging in the 57th minute when Graham’s ball over the top but Deeney in the clear and the former Walsall man closed in on Weale, only to place his shot too close to the keeper.

It wasn’t long before Loach was tested again though, tipping an Abe header from Leicester’s tenth corner over the bar to lead to number 11.

The Hornets dealt with that, only to be the architects of their own downfall when Loach cut an unsure figure as he came to deal with a long ball on the left side of his area and only succeeded in clattering into Mariappa, which presented Yakubu with the opportunity to slide the ball in from the angle to make it 2-2.

Abe became the first player to be booked after 69 minutes for a late challenge on Eustace, but four minutes later it was the hosts – and Bruma in particular – who were celebrating again.

The Chelsea loanee had already shown what he was capable of with his first goal, but this one was even better – lashing a ferocious right-footed strike from 30 yards beyond the despairing dive of Loach to put Leicester in front for the first time in the match.

The Hornets barely had time to recover from that before they found themselves 4-2 down less than three minutes later.

It looked like a combination of Loach and Mariappa may have dealt with the danger when King closed in on the keeper after the visiting defence had been caught out by a through pass, but the ball broke loose and Yakubu simply lifted it over the stranded stopper to register his second of the afternoon.

Watford tried to rally and won a couple of corners before Danny Drinkwater replaced Mingoia for the last eight minutes. Dale Bennett was then a late replacement for Martin Taylor, while Lloyd Dyer came on for Vassell.

Aleksandar Tunchev replaced Bruma deep into injury time, but it was the visitors who finished the stronger and Graham almost reduced the deficit to one late on with a right-footed curler that wasn’t too far wide of Weale’s left-hand post.

Leicester City: Weale; Naughton, Miguel Vitor, Mee, Van Aanholt; Abe, Bruma (Tunchev 90), Wellens (Yakubu 46), Gallagher; King; Vassell (Dyer 88). Not used: Teixeira, Howard, Berner and Smith.

Watford: Loach; Hodson, Mariappa, Taylor (Massey 88), Doyley; Eustace; Mingoia (Drinkwater 82), Cowie; Deeney, Weimann (Sordell 16); Graham. Not used: Buckley, Gilmartin, Bennett, Massey and Thompson.

Bookings: Abe for a foul on Eustace after 69 mins.

Attendance: 21,473.

Referee: Anthony Bates.