26/02/2000  Chelsea 2 Watford 1
 
The first goal of Jon Harley's short but impressive career 
condemned gallant Watford to another defeat.

Chelsea's young defender, who won his first England 
under-21 cap against Argentina on Tuesday, capped a dream week 
with his 65th-minute header.

It clinched the points for the Blues and sank the Hornets 
who had battled back bravely after conceding a goal in the 
second minute.

Marcel Desailly had opened the scoring with a header but 
Allan Smart equalised before the break for Graham Taylor's 
team.

Chelsea's championship-winning team of 1955 were at 
Stamford Bridge to see the team who had started the season 
with high hopes of emulating that feat.

An indifferent start to the Premiership campaign, which 
included a 1-0 defeat at Watford, saw manager Gianluca Vialli 
concede defeat in the title race and fix his gaze on 
Europe.

The Blues are back in Champions' League action against 
Marseille in midweek but the Premiership remains crucial to 
their season. Chelsea could pounce if teams falter at the top 
and a top three place remains a gilt-edged ticket to more 
European fame and fortune.

Watford's attentions have been focused at the other end of 
the table but they arrived in west London boasting an 
incredible record at Stamford Bridge.

Current form may have been woeful but the Hornets had only 
been beaten once in the League at Chelsea, on their first 
visit in 1979.

The proud record looked in danger of taking a hammering 
when Desailly leapt to meet a second-minute free-kick from 
Gianfranco Zola and score his first league goal for the 
Blues.

Chelsea, who bagged five against Gillingham last week, had 
produced a barnstorming start but the early goal only served 
to galvanise struggling Watford.

Smart rattled the crossbar, after Nordin Wooter flicked on 
a Peter Kennedy cross, and Mark Williams turned the rebound 
against a post.

Vialli's team seemed to have weathered the retaliatory 
storm and seemed in control when the gutsy visitors did find a 
way through, six minutes before half-time.

Zola and Dan Petrescu had both been denied by Alec 
Chamberlain and Gustavo Poyet had headed over when 
well-placed.

The wastefulness was underlined when Smart put Watford back 
into the game in the 39th minute.

Williams was shoved forward to meet a long free-kick out of 
defence and Heidar Helguson latched onto his towering header 
with a superb volley.

The Icelander did brilliantly to turn his shot on target 
and it surprised De Goey.

The Dutchman, sprawling to his left, could only parry the 
ball to the feet of Smart and the Scot gleefully tapped home 
his second of the season - both against Chelsea.

Kennedy then unleashed a thunderbolt from 30 yards which 
was inches too high with De Goey beaten again and Chelsea 
looking momentarily rattled.

Watford were still fighting after the break, refusing to 
let their hosts settle into a rhythm and bombarding De Goey's 
goal with a barrage of corners, free-kicks and crosses.

It was a counter-attack, engineered by Didier Deschamps, 
which gave Chelsea the luxury of a second goal they barely 
deserved.

The Frenchman sent Petrescu scampering down the right with 
a first-time pass. Petrescu lifted a deep cross into the area 
where Harley arrived in the nick of time to head the first 
goal of his short but impressive career.

Robert Page denied Poyet with a defensive header and Tore 
Andre Flo rifled over on the turn.

Fine skill from Smart eked out another sight of goal for 
the Watford scroer but he dragged his shot into the 
side-netting.