Roeder woe as King puts Watford on track again

Just when it seemed that Norwich would be sunk without trace, trailing to goals from Darius Henderson — his ninth of the season — and an own goal by goalkeeper David Marshall, the Canaries suddenly found their voice.

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Almost in desperation, Roeder threw on a double substitution of Lee Croft and Chris Martin for Jimmy Smith and the tiring John Hartson on 53 minutes.

And 11 minutes later Norwich were back in it as Watford went to sleep from a quick throw by Martin.

Jamie Cureton darted towards the Watford penalty area and then passed inside for Croft to ram the ball low to the right of keeper Richard Lee.

Norwich had come back from 2-0 down against East Anglian rivals Ipswich on Sunday, but there was to be no repeat when Marlon King swept home a Lee Williamson pass to clinch Watford's victory two minutes from time.

Roeder would have been dismayed to see in his club's programme a feature on 10 leading Watford managers ... that didn't include himself.

But in only his second game in charge he was a relieved man in the fifth minute when Henderson was adjudged offside as he clipped in a King centre.

Then Marshall did well to tip over a Tommy Smith centre that turned into a shot.

Referee Clive Penton angered Norwich fans with some of his decisions, but he was perfectly right to book Luke Chadwick for a nasty foul on Lloyd Doyley.

This wasn't vintage Watford by any means but they took the lead in the 36th minute.

Smith sent the ball down the right for Doyley to go into overdrive and leave left back Simon Lappin right out of it as he centred. Henderson easily tucked away the chance from close range.

And rock-bottom Norwich's misery increased in the 43rd minute when they went two down.

Adam Johnson sent over a corner from the left and Adrian Mariappa, deputising for the injured Jay DeMerit, got in a header that hit the near post and bounced back to hit keeper Marshall's legs and drop into the net.

But overall Norwich could have few complaints as they looked seriously off the pace compared to their battling display in Sunday's East Anglian derby when they forced a point.

On-loan central defender Martin Taylor continued to impress, but there were too many perilous passes and they failed to dominate a Watford side who had been shellshocked by their 3-0 home defeat against West Bromwich on Saturday.

With Deon Dublin out with hamstring trouble, Norwich started with on-loan striker Hartson but he is still trying to reach full fitness after having very few opportunities for West Brom and it was no surprise when he was substituted in the 53rd minute.