Town lost out to Watford for a second day in succession as the Hornets came out on top at Portman Road.

Richard Wright, back in action after recovering from a knee ligament injury, could do very little about Will Buckley's first-half opener and even less for Lewis Young's slightly lucky second goal for the visitors.

Watford came close to taking the lead early in the first-half when Young hit a 25-yard free-kick which forced a great diving save from Wright, keeping the ball out of the top corner.

Ten minutes later Watford got the breakthrough when some slack Town defending saw Buckley through on a one on one with Wright and the striker kept his head to convert.

Town came close to getting an equaliser when a great through ball from Ed Upson was latched onto by Ronan Murray down the right but his cross went into an empty box.

It could have been 2-0 to the visitors when the ball was played back to Buckley who shot from just inside the 18 yard box but his effort was cleared off the line by Jack Ainsley.

Town might have snatched a goal a few minutes before half-time when Pim Balkestein got on the end of Alan Quinn's free kick but his volleyed effort was well saved by Richard Lee.

Town made two substitutions at half-time with Tom Eastman replacing Troy Brown and Billy Clark coming on for Alan Quinn.

Eight minutes into the second-half and Watford were two up after Young managed to score from the rebound after his own shot had hit the post following a cross from Buckley.

It took Town just over 20 minutes to have their first shot on goal in the second- half and it came from some great build up play from substitute Jamie Griffiths after he got the ball into the left side of the 18 yard box and passed to Murray who flicked it back to Ainsley, his shot was saved well by Lee.

Town then started moving up through the gears and could have pulled one back when Upson found himself one on one with Lee after Murray cushioned the ball down with his head but the midfielder's shot was once again well saved.

Town continued to put pressure on Watford and started creating more chances but they failed to create any clear goalscoring opportunities.
Blues had another great chance to get back into the game when an Upson free- kick from the left of the 18 yard box was crossed deep and headed back across goal by Pim Balkestein to an unmarked Murray who headed just over five minutes from time.

Report: Blair Ferguson