Million Manhoef bags brace as Stoke beat Watford to end three-match winless run

Million Manhoef bagged a brace as Stoke ended a three-match winless run with a 3-1 victory over Watford.

The Dutch winger found the net either side of half-time before Sam Gallagher added a third late on just after Nestory Irankunda’s stunning strike had pulled one back for the Hornets.

The result sees the Potters move up to 13th place with only their second win in their last 12 league outings.

Watford, meanwhile, drop one place to 10th – eight points behind Wrexham in the fourth and final play-off spot.

Stoke looked the more lively of the two sides in the early stages and showed their intent through Bae Jun-ho, whose goalbound effort was blocked.

Watford steadily grew into the game and created a couple of good chances within the space of six minutes for Tom Ince, who had an attempt blocked by Eric Bocat before shooting straight at Tommy Simkin.

The hosts continued to pose a threat, though, as Steven Nzonzi headed straight at Egil Selvik from Sorba Thomas’ corner.

Down at the other end, Imran Louza dragged a shot wide from James Abankwah’s pull-back in the 21st minute as the best opportunity of the game up until that point went begging.

Moments later, Selvik produced an excellent save to keep out Tomas Rigo’s header from Manhoef’s neat cross.

But the goalkeeper could do nothing about Manhoef’s strike shortly before the half-hour mark as the Dutchman curled home with his favoured left foot after controlling compatriot Milan Smit’s pass across the box with his right.

The Potters nearly doubled their advantage just before half-time, only for Maksym Talovierov to direct the ball wide from Thomas’ delivery.

Watford came close to equalising early in the second half, but Stephen Mfuni glanced a header wide from Giorgi Chakvetadze’s corner.

There was no further goalmouth action of note until the 74th minute, when Selvik comfortably saved substitute Gallagher’s header from Thomas’ cross.

But it was not long before Manhoef bagged his second goal, forcing a good save out of Selvik with his left foot before lashing the rebound into the back of the net with a half-volley on his right.

The visitors halved the deficit with nine minutes of normal time remaining as substitute Irankunda’s ferocious effort from just outside the box flew into the top corner.

Any hopes of a comeback were soon put to bed, though, as Gallagher curled a right-footed effort into the top corner to secure all three points for Mark Robins’ Stoke side.

Defeat for Watford marks the second in six games for new manager Ed Still, who was named as Javi Gracia’s successor in February.