Birmingham showed they were not suffering any hangovers from losing on penalties to Liverpool in the Worthington Cup final at Cardiff last Sunday.

Goals from Nicky Eaden and Bryan Hughes earned the home side an easy victory against promotion rivals Watford - and provided Blues with their first ever win in front of the live cameras of Sky Television.

Birmingham owed their victory to the hard work and industry of midfielder Martin O'Connor and strikers Geoff Horsfield and Andrew Johnson.

The home side looked much the better side and controlled the game for large periods with Eaden scoring the opening goal and also laying on the second for Hughes.

Birmingham manager Trevor Francis made four changes from the starting line-up against Liverpool, bringing back on-loan Bradford defender Peter Atherton and midfielder Curtis Woodhouse - who had been ineligible for the cup final.

Johnson and Hughes also started the game, with Stan Lazaridis out injured and the trio of Danny Sonner, John McCarthy and Dele Adebola all dropping down to the substitutes bench.

With a number of top players out of the Birmingham starting line-up it must have given Francis confidence to see his side cope so easily with another team pushing for promotion and also with Andrew Johnson showing the sort of form that the side was lacking when Francis was trying to persuade Celtic's Mark Burchill and Derby's Dean Sturridge to join.

Watford counterpart Graham Taylor would have taken little comfort from the game, his side rarely getting out of first gear and looking very much out of shape on a bouncy and frozen St Andrews pitch.

Birmingham had the better of the early chances but it was a slip by Atherton which presented Tommy Smith with the chance to set up Paolo Vernazza but his shot was deflected wide by Michael Johnson.

The Birmingham defender had an appeal for a penalty turned down when his shot appeared to hit the arm of a Watford player after Eaden had taken a free-kick.

Watford's best chance of the first half was a 40-yard free-kick by Neil Cox but Birmingham's Ian Bennett dived low to his right for his only save of the game.

Horsfield was proving difficult for the Watford defence to handle and his turning cross from the right was just too far in front of Andrew Johnson.

The same striker shot over after good work by Eaden and Hughes as Birmingham pushed for that elusive first goal.

O'Connor collected Andrew Johnson's header but his cross was too near Espen Baardsen with Hughes and Horsfield both unmarked.

Left-back Martin Grainger went close to opening the scoring but his free-kick was just wide of the post.

On the stroke of half-time a Birmingham throw-in caused confusion in the Watford area and Andrew Johnson's lay-off presented Eaden with a chance and he curled the ball low into the bottom corner.

Eaden set up the first chance of the second half when he played O'Connor in down the right - but his cross was too deep for Andrew Johnson who was well positioned.

Horsfield exchanged passes with Atherton on the right and it was Atherton's cross which Andrew Johnson again failed to get a touch to and Cox was forced to clear under pressure from Hughes.

Birmingham brought on Adebola for Andrew Johnson, the player who had missed the decisive penalty in Cardiff, who picked up an injury following a heavy challenge.

The home side continued to press and Eaden was again involved in their second and clinching goal.

Eaden passed to Hughes from the right wing and the midfield player turned his marker before shooting past Baardsen.

A flurry of late substitutions was all that remained in this game as Birmingham kept up their challenge for automatic promotion.

The victory took them level on points with third-placed Blackburn and also left them four points behind second-placed Bolton, who occupy the second automatic promotion spot, with two games in hand.

Teams:

Birmingham: Bennett, Atherton, Purse, Michael Johnson, Grainger, Eaden (McCarthy 90), O'Connor (Sonner 83), Woodhouse, Hughes, Horsfield, Andrew Johnson (Adebola 75).

Subs Not Used: Poole, Marcelo.

Goals: Eaden 45, Hughes 79.

Watford: Baardsen, Cox, Page, Palmer, Ward, Nielsen, Vernazza (Helguson 79), Hyde (Wooter 63), Smith, Perpetuini, Mooney (Kennedy 88).

Subs Not Used: Chamberlain, Panayi.

Att: 20,724

Ref: A Butler (Sutton-in-Ashfield).