Tom Ince produced his first league hat-trick in a decade as Watford swept aside a lacklustre Birmingham City 3-0 at Vicarage Road, extending the Hornets' surge up the Championship table and deepening the visitors' growing problems. The 33-year-old, who had only one goal in 15 appearances this season before kick-off, struck in the ninth minute, again before the interval and once more just before the hour to settle a contest in which the outcome rarely felt in doubt.
Watford's fourth successive Championship victory was also their fifth win in a seven-match unbeaten run since losing at St Andrew's at the start of December, lifting them to fourth and, as Sky Sports put it, continuing their "surge towards the Championship automatic promotion places". For Birmingham, beaten here for the seventh straight time in the league without scoring, defeat stretched their winless sequence to seven games, dropped them to 16th and underlined the fragility of a side that has managed only two away league wins since returning to the division.
Ince Ends Long Wait for League Treble in Style
Ince's afternoon began with the kind of sharp, composed finish that has too often eluded him this season. Giorgi Chakvetadze drifted into space on the left after nine minutes and lifted a teasing cross over the back line. The ball dropped perfectly for Ince eight yards out, and he cushioned a deft volley into the bottom corner, giving James Beadle no chance and immediately settling Watford into a rhythm that Birmingham never managed to disrupt.