Millwall striker Tom Bradshaw’s first-half treble stings Watford

Posted Thursday, October 20, 2022 by PA

Tom Bradshaw’s stunning first-half hat-trick powered Millwall to a 3-0 victory over woeful Watford at the Den.

Bradshaw struck three times in just over half an hour to give Gary Rowett’s men their third successive win in a game they controlled throughout, moving them one point off the Championship play-off places.

It took just eight minutes for Bradshaw to open his account for the evening, as he latched onto a long goal-kick that was not dealt with by centre-back Mattie Pollock on his first Championship start for the visitors, before deftly lofting the ball over Daniel Bachmann.

The early strike roared the hosts into life as they began to dominate the game, with Jake Cooper nearly adding a second after 17 minutes as his header was tipped over the bar by Bachmann, before Bradshaw almost scrambled home a second after the resulting corner was not cleared.

It was an early warning that the Hornets did not heed, with the Watford backline unable to deal with long balls into their penalty area.

Just 10 minutes later, the Lions had their second courtesy of a long free-kick launched into the box.

Centre-back Cooper rose highest, his header finding Mason Bennett unmarked on the left-hand side of the box before he passed across goal to give Bradshaw the simplest of tap-ins.

And it was three with just 33 minutes on the clock, as another free-kick into the box was not dealt with by Watford with Cooper again causing all sorts of problems.

His flicked header found Bradshaw in the box before the striker showed great composure to find space and fire home to complete his hat-trick.

Watford did look to get themselves back into the match, with striker Keinan Davis leading the charge but he cut a frustrated figure up top as he led a seemingly solo mission for the visitors.

The Aston Villa loanee came closest in the first half for Slaven Bilic’s side as his fierce strike was deflected wide after 35 minutes but it was the hosts who looked more likely to score again before the break.

It was a long throw into the box that this time caused the issue for Watford but Cooper was unable to turn from provider to scorer as he tried to force the ball home from close range.

Bilic rang the changes at half-time, with Joao Pedro and Samuel Kalu entering the fray, but it made little difference as the visitors huffed and puffed but failed to trouble George Long in the Millwall goal, as the hosts saw out a comfortable victory with an uneventful second half.