Watford picked up a crucial victory over the Championship leaders in April 2015 in their pursuit of promotion to the Premier League, with Troy Deeney reaching 20 Championship goals for the third consecutive season.

Middlesbrough visited Vicarage Road knowing that a victory would put them five points clear of the Hornets with five games to go, with Watford in need of a win to close the gap on the top two.

Off the back of a hard-earned point against Derby County three days earlier, Slaviša Jokanović’s side battled with Boro for control of the game early on, with the Golden Boys’ superiority in attack beginning to show after 20 minutes.

Ikechi Anya and Deeney went close to finding an opener, and Gabriele Angella’s headed attempt was just wide of Dimi Konstantopoulos’ post.

As the visitors started to grow into the game, Watford got the crucial goal to allay the nerves, with Deeney the inevitable goalscorer. The captain didn’t contest with the Middlesbrough backline for Adlène Guedioura’s lofted cross, patiently waiting at the other end of the 18-yard box to control the delivery, take a composed touch and direct his shot home.

The first Watford player to score 20 in three successive campaigns and rising to eighth in the list of the club’s all-time top goalscorers, Deeney had reached another one of countless milestones during his career in yellow.

Watford’s ruthless front line continued to thrive as it had done all season in the second tier, and it didn’t slow in the second period. Even midfielders Dániel Tőzsér and Ben Watson were in shooting moods, both firing efforts at Konstantopoulos.

It would be Ighalo, Watford’s second-most potent forward that season, who grabbed the second.

Receiving the ball outside the box from Watson, Ighalo looked to shoot before fooling Jonathan Woodgate with his trademark scoop, lashing home a rocket into the top corner.

The narrow points gap gave little room for error in the Championship, and Middlesbrough fell from first to fourth with defeat. Watford leapfrogged their opponents into third, level with second-placed Norwich on points and just one behind AFC Bournemouth.

The Hornets wouldn’t lose another game that season, starting a five-game winning run that peaked on April 25, when promotion was secured hours after a thrilling 2-0 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion.

The fine margins of the Championship were as apparent as ever when Middlesbrough, despite winning three of their final five games, went on to finish four points behind Watford in fourth.