Tom Cleverley backing hat-trick hero Tom Ince to play key role for Watford

Watford boss Tom Cleverley hailed “problem solver” Tom Ince after his hat-trick heroics helped the Hornets finally smash their League Cup hoodoo and believes the experienced midfielder will be a key player this season.

The 32-year-old Ince led the way with his first hat-trick for nine years, netting in first-half stoppage time and again in the 67th and 74th minutes as his Championship team crushed League Two MK Dons 5-0.

Watford had gone out of the competition to lower league opposition in each of the previous four seasons, with Dons beating them 2-0 two seasons ago.

But there was no banana skin this time as skipper Mattie Pollock headed Watford ahead in the 24th minute – from Ince’s right-wing corner – with substitute Kwadwo Baah netting the home side’s other goal in the 64th minute.

Cleverley, who made seven changes after Saturday’s win at Millwall, said: “Tom is a really intelligent player and I love intelligent players.

“You don’t need to coach players like him too much. They know where to be and how to adapt in-game with his game intelligence. He’s a problem solver on the field.

“He’s got real quality in that left-foot and he’s someone I see featuring a lot more than he did last season. He has attributes I really like. He will be a key part of the squad this year.”

The Dons shone briefly, but boss Mike Williamson, a former Hornets player, said: “Credit needs to go to the quality Watford showed.

“Physically and mentally they were on the front foot. We reacted well early in the second half, but then we conceded and that took the wind out of our sails.

“There were some good performances but the scoreline makes it 10 times worse.”