Jansson heads late winner for Brentford as Watford’s home woes continue

Spare a thought for any long-suffering Watford supporters who remember the 1971/72 season. That was the first time they had suffered nine successive league defeats at home - an unwanted statistic only matched by five clubs in the history of English football.

Yet even those who were around Vicarage Road 50 years ago cannot claim to have seen a worse team than this as Pontus Jansson’s last-gasp header condemned Watford to a 10th straight loss here. It means they join Birmingham City’s class of 1986, with Roy Hodgson still waiting to record his first point here after eight attempts.

An equalising goal from Emmanuel Dennis that cancelled out Christian Nørgaard’s first-half strike had looked like ending that run until Jansson broke Watford hearts in the final minute of injury time.

Despite their struggles here, Watford’s owners this week reaffirmed their commitment to their home since August 1922 despite rumours that the club had been considering a new 33,000-seater stadium on land at Bushey Hall golf club. Not since the 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United in November have supporters here seen a victory - an awful sequence that has left them staring down the trapdoor as the business end of the season approaches.

By contrast, Brentford’s Premier League status already looked assured even before this match thanks to two successive victories and the visiting fans seemed keen to remind their hosts of this at kick-off. “You’re going down with the Norwich,” they sang. Thomas Frank welcomed back captain Jansson to the heart of his defence in the only change from their win over West Ham, while Hodgson recalled top scorer Dennis in attack.

His only previous goal this year had come in the victory at Aston Villa in February and the