David Moyes suffered a nightmare start to his West Ham tenure when Will Hughes put Watford ahead with his first ever goal for the club.
While Hughes was making only his second ever Premier League start this was Moyes' 500th Premier League match, a milestone only previously reached by Alex Ferguson, Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger.
But there was little for him to celebrate, losing to a team which had not won in three matches.
Moyes, out of work since being dismissed by Sunderland when he was also involved in a sexism row, has made it clear that he is determined to get back to basics.
But on this showing he faces an uphill battle with the army of away fans also only too aware of the bleak season that looks to lie head.
They were chanting Sack the Board soon after kick-off and then turned on the team after the second goal with 'You're not Fit to Wear the Shirts'. Watford went ahead after just 11 minutes when defender Marvin Zeegelaar, making debut after signing from Sporting Lisbon, supplied a great pass to Andre Gray.
The ball then deflected off him into the path for former Derby County man Hughes whose shot flew past Joe Hart. The Hornets were unlucky not to score against just after the half-hour when Richarlison supplied Kiko Femenia only for his effort to be deflected off West Ham's Angelo Obonna.
The Hammers had the perfect chance to level just before half-time when skipper Mark Noble passed the ball to Cheikhou Kouyate only for Heurelho Gomes to pull off a great save. Gomes again kept his team in the match deep in stoppage time when Zabaleta crossed to Marko Arnautoivic whose header was first kept out by the Hornets shot-stopper before he then stuck his leg out to stop the rebounded shot.
The home side came back after the break firing on all cylinders with Gray shooting wide after being set up by Christian Kabasele.
And they were finally rewarded for their efforts when Richarlison scored the second.
A Winston Reid header fell into the path of the Hornets before Hughes found the Brazilian although TV footage showed a possible hand-ball from Hughes.
From The Sun
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