Malky Mackay and Stevie Kean were the happiest management bhoys after today’s festive card.
Watford followed up their 3-1 win away to QPR with an equally impressive 4-1 home win over Cardiff City after coming from behind.
In the Premiership Kean won his first match since being put in charge of Blackburn with a 3-1 win away to West Brom.
Completing the happy picture for former Celts Middlesbrough won 3-1 at Preston while Norwich retained their play-off slot with a 4-2 win over Sheffield United.
Following up their win over QPR against highly fancied Cardiff looked like being a tall order for Watford- especially after Peter Whittingham put Cardiff in front but led by another double from leading scorer Danny Graham Watford stormed back to win 4-1.
“I think that’s our best performance of the season,” Mackay admitted. “We’ve had a couple of good results away from home but I think that was a complete performance.
“Missing a penalty and then going a goal down can sometimes knock confidence and I think it’s great to see the younger guys are learning from past experiences and growing.
“There wasn’t a real period in the game where Cardiff dominated us and all over the pitch, in every position, we had players who were nine out of 10 and that makes a huge difference.”
Cardiff boss Dave Jones was bitterly disappointed saying: “”At the end of the day it’s probably our worst performance of the season.
“That’s taking nothing away from Watford, but I think there were too many bodies out there that shouldn’t have been.”
In the Premiership Kean was delighted to get his first win after taking temporary charge following the sacking of Sam Allerdyce.
Before the match there were suggestions that some Rovers players were on the brink of rebellion with captain Chris Samba reportedly upset by Allerdyce’s dismissal.
“It’s a buoyant dressing room, Kean said afterwards. “Today we showed our togetherness.
“Paul Robinson was feeling his calf but he wanted to give it a go and Michel Salgado was up all night being sick, but he wanted to play.
“To get a victory with lads that were a bit under the weather and to play the way we did against a very good West Brom team was fantastic, especially for the travelling fans.”
Back in the Championship Paul Lambert had former Livingston winger Wes Hoolihan to thank for turning around the game with Sheffield United.
Trailing 2-1 at half time Lambert sent Hoolihan on for the second half and got the required reaction with the super sub scoring a hat-trick in his side’s 4-2 win.
“It’s been an incredible start to the season for us. We got things started last season in League One and the lads have just kept it going. Normally you get a little spell when the good form stops but that hasn’t happened.
“The players deserve a lot of credit for that and so do the supporters because they play a big part in it as well.”
Middlesbrough got in on the act as well with a 3-1 win away at Preston pushing them back towards mid-table and their hosts rooted to bottom spot.
“I’m pleased with the win of course, I think there was enough good play in there to warrant it,” Tony Mowbray said.
“We must give them a lot of credit; they didn’t look like a team that was bottom of the league and they played some nice fluent football and created some chances.
“But when the game went on they had to chase it and they looked more vulnerable and disheartened and we could have scored a few more at the end.
“It was a professional performance from us in a game we needed to win, we came here and did the job.”
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