Watford booked their place in the Premiership with a convincing victory over Leeds in a frantic play-off final. Jay Demerit, James Chambers and Darius Henderson scored for the Hornets to secure the Premiership place which is worth in the region of £30 million to the Hertfordshire club.
 | | Simon Oxley reports. |
The Hornets went in front through Jay DeMerit's powerful header from five yards after Ashley Young's corner, and Aidy Boothroyd's side were two up when James Chambers' shot deflected off Eddie Lewis and looped on to the post before dropping in off Neil Sullivan. Darius Henderson completed the rout with a cool penalty after Shaun Derry cynically felled Marlon King. Both teams started brightly and had early chances. Watford striker Henderson failed to make decent contact on a close-range header from a corner inside a minute, while Young deflected Derry's goal-bound shot round the post for Leeds. And after 24 minutes the Hornets were rewarded for their endeavour as DeMerit left his marker Rob Hulse and powered home Young's inswinging corner. The goal settled Watford down and allowed them to retain possession in midfield as well as causing Leeds problems from set-pieces. As the frantic half drew to a close, Leeds had a penalty appeal turned down when goalkeeper Foster appeared to push Paul Butler, and Lewis fired a free-kick narrowly over. Brightly Watford began the second half as brightly as they finished the first with Henderson testing Sullivan with a fierce strike, and they fortuitously doubled their lead on 57 minutes with a freak own goal. A long throw-in by Gavin Mahon found Chambers who swivelled and shot before seeing the ball loop off Lewis, hit the post and squirm in off keeper Sullivan. Only Jordan Stewart's outstretched leg on the goal-line prevented Derry heading Leeds back into the game on 70 minutes.
 | | Adrian Boothroyd celebrates |
As Leeds pushed for a lifeline, the game opened up further giving both teams a sight on goal. And Watford could have put the game beyond doubt when Mackay's header was cleared off the line by Lewis with 10 minutes remaining. Minutes later the Hornets sealed their promotion to the top flight when Henderson calmly slotted in a penalty after Derry brought down King. Relishing The Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd is relishing the prospect of being a Premiership manager with the Hornets, and he was quick to praise the 30,000 fans who made the journey to Cardiff and talk about how Watford got to the Premiership. "They've been terrific" he said. "We've continued to surprise all along and that's because we don't fear anybody. We want to attack teams and we want to go out and impose ourselves on them." He also said that he still had much more to do with Watford. "Football's quite short term, chairmen and directors are sometimes quite quick to get rid of managers before they give them a real go and also managers and players are quick to make a fast buck" he added. "I can understand that. But I just feel that where I want to go in my life and what I want to do in my career, is that I want to be part of something bigger than myself and that I want to build something. It's only the end of the beginning today!" Delighted The Watford chairman Graham Simpson was also naturally delighted at the Hornets' achievement. "I said I'd take five years to put this club back on its feet, well we've done it in three and a half years" he said. "I'm immensely proud of everybody that's been behind me that's help me do this." He was also quick to play tribute to manager Adrian Boothroyd. "All I can say is that the man has what I said at the very beginning, an amazing talent" he explained. "He is a quite an extraordinary young man. He is far ahead of his years. We recognised that straight away. "We knew we'd get a lot of abuse when we appointed him but our shoulders were broad enough" he continued. "My board have stood by me and we've proved to everybody that said we couldn't do it what we could do and I'm very proud and very grateful to all those people that stood behind me." Sensible There will now be in the region of £30 million going into the Watford coffers, but speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio on Monday morning the chairman confirmed that their spending plans are already in place. "You've got to be very, very sensible" he said. "We have a board and a manager who are absolutely united with our Chief Executive. We know what we're going to do. We had a budget before this game, a budget for the Premiership and the budget for the Championship. "Of course we're going to buy some players. Aidy knows already the kinds of players that he wants. He will not be going to spend £5 or £6 million on one player, that is not what Watford is about. We will be going to look at players who are young, hungry and who want to learn and fit into the mould that Aidy wants to bring in and the culture that he's created. "We will definitely spend some money but it's not going to be silly money" he added. Focus Meanwhile, man-of-the-match Jay Demerit said that there was only one way to win this match. "We came in very focussed and that was half the battle" he said. "Trying to stay focussed and trying do the right things out there because sometimes the atmosphere and things can overwhelm you. Today was not like any other game but we did prepare for it like it was another game and that's what we had to do" he continued. "We had to say, this is the 49th game of the season so let's go out there and do it again. And thankfully the ball bounced our way!" | 
