Tom Cleverley will surely be shocked at Watford FC development | OneFootball

Vakoun Bayo found his scoring touch at the weekend

Watford continued to show their promise this season in spectacular style on Saturday afternoon, when they travelled to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday.

Prior to that match, Tom Cleverley's side had not won on the road since an opening day victory at Millwall, losing their previous six on the road in all competitions.

However, a 6-2 win over the Owls ended that run in emphatic style, and saw the Hornets climb to fifth in the current Championship standings.

Of course, one player who stood out massively for the club with his performance in that victory in Yorkshire, was Vakoun Bayo.

Watford striker had a day to remember at Hillsborough

After a goal apiece had seen the score locked at 1-1 at half-time in that match on Saturday, it was Watford who took the lead shortly after the break, when Tom Ince netted from the penalty spot.

Around five minutes after that, the visitors won another penalty when Bayo was brought down in the area by Dominic Iorfa, which kicked off a remarkable chain of events for the striker.

With the 27-year-old given the responsibility of taking that spot-kick, he duly fired past James Beadle to make it 3-1 to Watford.

Ten minutes later the Ivorian had his second and his side's fourth, as he headed in Giorgi Chakvetadze's cross from close range at the back post.

While Pol Valentin would pull one back with just under ten minutes of normal time remaining, Bayo would quickly end any hopes of a Sheffield Wednesday comeback.

Breaking through one on one, the striker produced an audacious chip over the onrushing Beadle from the edge of the area to complete his hat-trick.

There was time for Bayo to get another on 88 minutes - half an hour after his first - to complete an unforgettable day for him and Watford, when he clinically fired in Yasser Larouci's ball across goal.

That would of course, have been an incredible return for any player to produce, but in the circumstances, it could be argued that the fact it came from Bayo, will surprise Cleverley even more.

Vakoun Bayo has struggled for goals since joining the Hornets

Having signed for Watford from Charleroi back in the summer of 2022, Bayo spent the last two years at Vicarage Road, before being sold to Udinese this summer.

He was though, loaned back to the Championship club this season, and that win at Sheffield Wednesday saw them reap the benefits of the striker like they never have before.

In truth, Bayo has never really scored the goals that the Hornets would have hoped to get from him in his role as a centre-forward.

Across the previous two seasons, the Ivorian has found the net just ten times in 63 Championship appearances for the club, a far from prolific return for the striker.

Prior to that remarkable half-an-hour in Yorkshire this weekend, things had not been much different in the current campaign either.

Bayo had scored just once in the league this season ahead of that game, when he had netted an admittedly brilliant scissor kick in a 2-1 win over Derby County in late August.

Since then though, the striker had failed to score in nine consecutive appearances for Watford, and according to SofaScore, has missed seven big chances this season.

That of course, shows how difficult the Ivorian had found it to put the ball in the back of the net prior to this trip to Hillsborough.

As a result, it is hard to imagine that Cleverley or anyone else associated with the club, would have envisioned such a clinical and efficient performance coming from the 27-year-old on Saturday.

But having found that scoring touch against Wednesday, the Hornets will surely now be desperate for Bayo to continue with that for the rest of the campaign.

If he does though, there may be some at Watford left to rue the fact they have allowed him to move on permanently, beyond the end of this season.