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Watford climbed to third in the Championship as two early goals were enough for them to see off out-of-form Rotherham United.

Christian Kabasele gave the Hornets the lead after just four minutes when he poked home from close range as Troy Deeney helped a Ken Sema corner goalwards.

That lead was doubled inside 15 minutes as Deeney pounced on a mistake by Millers centre-back Wes Harding to tap in at the back post.

Rotherham went close in the second half to reducing the deficit as Ben Foster made a terrific save from Kyle Vassell but the visitors eventually slumped to a third consecutive defeat.

Paul Warne's side are now without a win in their past six games as they sit just two points above the bottom three.

Watford, meanwhile, are a point behind leaders Bournemouth. They shrugged off a disappointing home defeat by Cardiff on Saturday to give a Vicarage Road crowd a first taste of victory this season.

Centre-back Kabasele scored his first goal for the club in just over three years for the opener and then Deeney netted his second of the season to give Vladimir Ivic's side the perfect start.

They probably should have made the margin of victory more comprehensive. Tom Cleverley and Nathaniel Chalobah both fired narrowly wide in the first half and Stipe Perica dragged a low effort wide when played clean through by Ismaila Sarr late on.

Rotherham grew into the game after the break as Angus MacDonald and Matt Crooks both went close after Vassell's fine volley. But they have now lost seven of their past nine league games, winning just once in that period.

Watford boss Vladimir Ivic told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three Counties Radio:

"It could have been a more comfortable victory, we worked hard from the very first second of the game.

"We didn't start well in the second half, I told the players that we needed to stay focused but after the first 10 or 15 minutes we started to control the game again.

"We created chances and worked hard and we had good movement without the ball, all of the players who had the ball here had options because we were active without the ball, this is something very important in our attack."

Rotherham boss Paul Warne told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Sheffield:

"I didn't like the start of the game, I'm hugely disappointed with the the two goals and Watford started really well but I thought the lads rallied really well and we grew into the game although we were 2-0 down.

"In the second half we were excellent to the man but let's not kid ourselves where we are.

"I was really proud of the performance, there were some really good performances but I go away from this ground disappointed on the result but not on the performance.

"The way we played tonight will put us in good stead for Saturday."