Old mates turned inside out by Darius

Watford conned their way to a victory which could rob Reading of a place in Europe by using inside information.

The home side have not bothered to change their calls when defending set-pieces in the past four years — and their former player Darius Henderson made them pay.

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When Watford's Lee Williamson took his 60th-minute free-kick, his team-mates heard the shouts from Reading's defence and knew that they would push forward.

Henderson deliberately blocked Michael Duberry — an incident that referee Dermot Gallagher did not spot — leaving Danny Shittu free to prod in the opening goal.

Marlon King, who scored a late second for Watford, said: "We worked on it on Friday. We knew what was going to happen and it worked a treat. Darius knew their little shout."

Furious Duberry said: "The linesman saw me in there so he didn't flag offside. If Henderson hadn't held me back, Shittu would have been offside.

"I even shouted to the referee: 'Watch the blocks' but it went unnoticed. I was a bit disappointed because, up to that point, I didn't feel that they were hurting us. That incident just lifted them."

Reading had been the better side during a poor first half. The scores were level only because of Ben Foster's excellence and Dave Kitson's header striking the bar. Leroy Lita was also upset that he was not awarded a 21st minute penalty for a foul by Cedric Avinel.

Once behind, Reading looked flustered. Foster denied Seol Ki-Hyeon with another superb save beforeKingwrappedit up,heading in after Marcus Hahnemann spilled Tommy Smith's cross.