Match report: Watford 2 Bristol City 4

Just when Bristol City were prepared to abandon all hope of festive cheer, two-goal Nicky Maynard came up with the perfect Christmas present for hard-pressed Robins fans.

The record signing has found goals hard to come by since moving from Crewe, but the two he conjured up at Vicarage Road against Watford served to silence his critics and help put City's faltering season back on track.

Although the manner of victory was far from convincing, those who made the early-morning trip from Bristol to witness this post-turkey romp in the Boxing Day sunshine will feel the effort was worth every penny.

After all, they had endured a wretched sequence of eight games without a victory during which last season's beaten play-off finalists had slipped to 18th place in the Championship table. All they wanted for Christmas was a win – at any costs.

And Maynard was the man who did most to deliver a success which affords manager Gary Johnson and his charges welcome relief as the campaign enters its crucial second half.

A target for snipers when he struggled to find the back of the net with any regularity following his high-profile transfer, Maynard has cut a lonely figure at times. But the young striker refused to lose belief in his ability to convert chances into goals and proved he can cut it in English football's second tier by scoring twice in 27 first-half minutes to lay the foundations for victory over a Watford side which remains too close to the relegation zone for comfort.

Grzegorz Rasiak pulled a goal back for Watford and Marvin Elliott scored at both ends of the pitch before substitute Dele Adebola netted in time added on to inspire travelling supporters to break into a rousing rendition of 'jingle bells.'

Seeking their first win since November 8 and low on confidence, Bristol City urgently required the security of a solid start. As it happened, they could scarcely have asked for anything better.

Barely 45 seconds had elapsed when Michael McIndoe's lofted pass caught the home defence square to leave Maynard one-on-one with the stranded Scott Loach.

Displaying a striker's instincts, the £2.25m summer signing from Crewe controlled the ball in an instant and picked his spot between goalkeeper and upright to give City a crucial advantage and help repay another slice of his transfer fee.

Not only did Maynard's fourth goal in eight appearances infuse his teammates with much-needed self-belief, it also served to silence the home crowd.

And their mood was hardly improved as Watford huffed and puffed in search of parity, John-Joe O'Toole and Lee Williamson both shooting off-target when opportunity presented itself.

When City scored first against the Hornets at Ashton Gate in November, their lead lasted barely a minute, since when they have squandered similar advantages in games against Ipswich and Burnley.

Robins boss Johnson and his players had talked of the need to score a second goal and kill opposition sides off during such periods of ascendancy and City's approach play, afforded additional fluency by the return to the 4-3-3 formation which worked so well at Sheffield Wednesday earlier this month, suggested they might be able to impose themselves on this contest.

Lee Johnson almost conjured the all-important second goal, his free kick taking a wicked deflection off Watford's defensive wall and clearing Loach's cross bar by inches with the keeper treading water.

No matter. Bristol City did finally increase their lead on 28 minutes, courtesy of a lightning-quick counter-attack, sparked by Johnson's intuitive through ball. Sproule demonstrated searing pace and deft touch to outstrip Jon Harley and then cut inside Leigh Bromby to engineer room for a shot.

Loach raced from his line to make a fine save, but Adrian Mariappa's attempts to clear the ball were thwarted by Maynard, who dispossessed the defender and gleefully side-footed home from seven yards to register his seventh goal of an increasingly-productive campaign.

He thought he had an eighth moments later, running onto McIndoe's pass and beating Loach with a clever flick of his right boot, only for an assistant's raised flag to cut short any hat-trick celebrations.

Watford's shaky defence was living dangerously and Jay DeMerit was forced to make a last-ditch intervention to deny Stern John a goal as City sought to put the outcome beyond doubt before half time.

Having kept his side in the game, DeMerit then squandered a wonderful opportunity to close the deficit, rising unchallenged to meet Williamson's corner kick with a firm header which flew inches wide of Adriano Basso's goal. City's keeper was then perfectly positioned to deal with Grzegorz Rasiak's drive, Watford's first on-target effort of the game.

Their next on-target effort, delivered four minutes into the second half, put the Hornets back in contention. City failed to attend to Jobi McAnuff's surging right-wing run and cross, and Polish striker Rasiak had time and space in which to beat Basso with a low shot which nestled in the corner of the net.

Fortunately for City, their hosts were in generous mood and the visitors restored their two-goal advantage within three minutes.

There appeared little danger to Watford's goal when Elliott unleashed a speculative drive from 25 yards. But the ball took a sharp deflection off a yellow-shirted defender and keeper Loach, no doubt confused by the sudden change in trajectory, would only help the ball into the net.

It was the perfect response and one which should have drawn any remaining sting from the Hornets. But City again made life difficult for themselves, Elliott heading McAnuff's firmly-hit cross past Basso to give the home side renewed hope with 25 minutes remaining.

City's nerves were finally calmed in injury time, Adebola rising at the far post to nod in Johnson's pin-point cross and finally kill off the home side.

Watford (4-4-2): Loach; Mariappa, DeMerit, Bromby, Harley (sun Hoskins 64); McAnuff, Williamson, O'Toole (sub Young 46), Sadler (sub Jenkins 46); Rasiak, Smith.

Bristol City (4-3-3): Basso; Orr, Carey, Fontaine, Wilson; Johnson, Elliott, McIndoe; Sproule (sub Skuse 79), John (sub Adebola 74), Maynard (sub Trundle 90).

Referee: F Graham

Attendance: 15,527