Skipper David Norris netted his fifth goal of the season but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Blues from falling to a 2-1 defeat at Watford. Town had been the better side up to a two-goal Hornets salvo just before the break and got back on top in the closing stages after Norris’s goal but were unable to grab the equaliser.
Boss Roy Keane made six changes from the side which lost 2-1 at home to Coventry on Saturday. Keeper Márton Fülöp dropped out due to a back injury with Brian Murphy making his first league start of the season.
Troy Brown came in at right-back for Jaime Peters, while Damien Delaney returned at left centre-half alongside Gareth McAuley with Tommy Smith moving to left-back with Mark Kennedy out for around three weeks with a hamstring injury.
Keane switched to a four-man midfield with Jack Colback coming in for his second Town debut on the left and skipper David Norris returning to the side on the right. Grant Leadbitter and Jake Livermore continued in the centre. Andros Townsend and Carlos Edwards dropped to the bench and Luke Hyam out of the 18.
Up front, Tamás Priskin came into the team against his old club with Jason Scotland just behind him. The Blues strike pair conjured the first chance of the game in the third minute, Priskin laying the ball off to Scotland from a freekick from deep but the Trinidadian sent the ball well over the bar when he probably should have done much better.
Priskin shot wide from a tight angle on the left, then moments later at the other end Marvin Sordell, who scored a hat-trick for Watford’s U18s at Portman Road in their FA Youth Cup victory over the Blues two seasons ago, almost reached a John Eustace cross from deep on the right.
Both sides were having their moments in a bright opening, despite the slippery conditions caused by heavy afternoon rain. Blues striker Tamás Priskin was a victim of the surface’s lack of grip in the ninth minute when he slipped as he tried to take the ball past a defender having been sent away by a long Delaney pass.
Town were creating the more significant opportunities and on 11 Scotland did well to turn inside a defender before hitting a low shot just wide of former Town schoolboy Scott Loach’s left post.
Blues boss Roy Keane’s comments claiming some fans know nothing about football didn’t appear to have gone down too badly with the travelling support who sung his name for a long spell midway through the half.
Chances were becoming rarer, although Stephen McGinn managed a 25-yard strike on 23 but screwed the ball high and wide of Brian Murphy’s goal.
The Blues had been the better team but the home side started to make more of an impression as the game reached the half hour but without seriously testing Murphy. At the other end Priskin was alive to a poorly hit backpass, forcing Loach to rush off his line to clear.
On 36 Michael Bryan crossed from the right and Danny Graham flicked a header wide of Murphy’s right post.
A minute later, with the Blues regaining their earlier ascendency, Brown sent in a dangerous cross from the right and Eustace headed over his own bar from six yards out with Scotland behind him.
Town had been the better side over the half but on 41 the Hornets went in front. Lloyd Doyley sent in a long throw from the right, Martin Taylor flicked it on and the unmarked Stephen McGinn volleyed home from 10 yards.
The previously lacklustre home side sprung into life after the goal, laying siege to the Blues penalty area and two minutes later they increased their lead. Andrew Taylor crossed from the left and Sordell, previously the tormentor of Town's U18s, flicked a header beyond Murphy and into the net.
The Blues' support, which had previously been backing Keane in song, changed their tune, calling on the Blues boss to ‘sort it out’.
Neither side managed another chance before referee Graham Scott, a late replacement official, blew his whistle.
The half-time scoreline was harsh on the Blues, who had been on top for much of the first 45 minutes, at times keeping possession for long spells in the Watford half. However, their only two real chances had come in the early stages with Scotland’s third minute opportunity perhaps the best, while he went close with his subsequent shot from the edge of the area.
The home side hadn’t seriously threatened Brian Murphy’s goal until they scored their goals, both very sharply taken opportunities.
Watford started the second half as they had ended the first and on 52 Brown was forced to clear from inside the six-yard box after Murphy had tipped a cross from the right away from Graham’s head.
On 54 Priskin hit a low shot through to Loach from 25 yards, the Hungarian’s last action before he and Jake Livermore were replaced by Connor Wickham and Ronan Murray three minutes later. Priskin, who had been warmly applauded by sections of his old support at the start of the game was jeered off by them as he left the field.
The substitutions gave the Blues a lift after a slow start to the half. On the hour mark David Norris picked up the game’s first yellow card for a foul on halfway.
On 68 Carlos Edwards replaced Troy Brown at right-back and immediately had an effect on the game. A corner was cleared to the Trinidadian, who sent the ball back into the box from midway inside the Watford half. Keeper Loach mispunched under pressure and the ball reached Norris 20 yards out from where the Town captain looped a header over the massed ranks inside the area and under the bar for his fifth goal of the season
Murray, playing in a role behind Scotland and Wickham, shot narrowly wide on 70 as Town started to regain some belief. Six minutes later Delaney curled the ball beyond the post with the Blues having much more of the ball but without creating much of note.
Town were continuing to dominate and as the game moved into the final 10 minutes Wickham shot over from a tight angle on the left from a Scotland lay-off.
Murray had the ball in the net in the 84th minute after a freekick had been sent in from deep but the linesman’s flag had long been raised for offside. The Republic of Ireland U19 international had another chance moments later but Wickham’s cross from the right deflected off his shins and flew through to Loach.
Town continued to press but were unable to test Loach again, despite Delaney being sent forward as an additional striker in three minutes of injury time.
A draw would probably have been a fair result. In many ways it was a game of three halves with Town on top until Watford's two well-taken goals, the Hornets dominating until the Blues got their goal, then Town pressing for the remainder of the match.
Despite a switch from the controversial formation with the lone central striker, creating chances remains Town’s biggest problem with few decent opportunities during either of their spells in the ascendency.
The Blues are now down to eighth with a difficult game at Roy Keane’s former club Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Town: Murphy, Brown (Edwards 68), Smith, McAuley, Delaney, Leadbitter, Livermore (Wickham 57), Norris, Colback, Scotland Priskin (Murray 57). Unused: Lee-Barrett, Peters, Townsend, Eastman. Att: 11,836 (Town: 1,209).