Blackwell lives nightmare after Boothroyd coup

To the apprentice, the spoils of the £40m cash bonanza that goes with promotion to the Premiership. To the sorcerer, at least another year of Championship drudgery, of Colchester rather than Manchester.

Adrian Boothroyd, who was head coach under Kevin Blackwell at Leeds United before becoming manager of Watford, claimed the tactical honours in unexpectedly convincing style as Vicarage Road again became the most quaintly named and least grandiose venue in the élite division.

Blackwell had opted for a 4-5-1 formation, in contrast with Boothroyd's 4-4-2. In theory, Leeds' numerical advantage in midfield should have been translated into dominance. But instead of midfielders breaking forward, as their opponents did, Rob Hulse cut an isolated figure until the second half. By then, however, the dye was cast in Watford yellow.

Long before the final goal was set up by Marlon King and Matthew Spring - two players Blackwell deemed surplus to his rebuilding task - the game had eerie echoes of Leeds' previous final. In 1996, contesting the League Cup, they crashed to Aston Villa at Wembley. When Darius Henderson's spot-kick made it 3-0 even the score was identical.

On that occasion, many Leeds supporters stayed to berate Howard Wilkinson. This time, reluctant to blame the manager who had brought them from the brink of liquidation to the verge of the Premiership, they simply trudged away. They had allowed themselves to live the dream, to borrow Peter Ridsdale's phrase, only to find it was the same old nightmare. The chairman who brought you football's best-fed goldfish is now, of course, part of Cardiff City and was present here.

That prospect of a rebirth in the Welsh capital therefore had a highly symbolic value. Didn't the Principality give Leeds its finest footballing son, the late John Charles? And wasn't it in his home town, Swansea, in 1962 that Don Revie threw in a clutch of untried teenagers who would form the basis of the club's most formidable side?

Even though Blackwell has presided over the arrival and departure of 100 players in less than two years as manager, he was still able to field an entire starting XI with Premiership experience. On a pitch left rutted by the rugby warriors of Munster and Biarritz, and in the pressure-cooker atmosphere created by the closed roof, that ought to have given them the edge over a young side widely tipped for relegation last August.

Yet the ferocity of the opening assault on Leeds' goal, which was under siege from a corner kick inside 45 seconds, handed Watford a psychological initiative they never looked likely to relinquish. The carnival atmosphere among the Yorkshire hordes, which had seen a beach ball glance gently off the head of Chris Kamara without the Sky summariser and ex-Leeds player missing a beat, soon diminished.

Boothroyd's men exploit set pieces as ruthlessly as John Beck's infamous Cambridge United side - or, indeed, the Watford team Graham Taylor led from Fourth Division to First 25 years ago - which made every throw-in, free-kick and corner a source of torment for Leeds' defenders.

Leeds had been forewarned about the determination which Jay DeMerit displayed to head the first goal. In the programme, Watford's captain, Gavin Mahon, had hailed him as "a powerful defender who'd run through brick walls to win the ball."

The second took two deflections before creeping over the line after Mahon's towering throw had disconcerted Leeds.

Henderson's penalty provided the final twist of the knife. As the Watford end rocked to "Twist & Shout", some Leeds fans were already hitting the M4. The haul back to the Premiership had just become longer.