Bettinelli sent off as Fulham are thrashed

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Fulham 0 Watford 5

Ten-man Fulham were thrashed after goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli was sent off early in the game.

Troy Deeney netted a hat-trick for Watford, who were leading through Almen Abdi’s free-kick when Bettinelli brought down Matej Vydra in the box and was shown a straight red card.

Deeney calmly converted the spot-kick and tapped home his second before the break after a defensive error from Jack Grimmer.

Abdi smashed Watford’s fourth into the top corner from distance early in the second half and then Deeney was put clean through for the fifth in stoppage time.

It was Fulham’s first home defeat in the Championship since Kit Symons was appointed manager.

Watford could have scored before their opener, with Abdi forcing Bettinelli into an excellent save from a free-kick before scoring from another set-piece.

Fulham were all over the place defensively as Bettinelli dived at the feet of Vydra and fouled him in the box on 18 minutes, with substitute keeper Gabor Kiraly diving the wrong way from Deeney’s penalty.

Youngster Grimmer, making just his second appearance after returning from a loan spell at Shrewsbury, headed back across his own penalty area and allowed Gianni Munari to set up an unmarked Deeney for Watford’s third.

And after after Abdi had been allowed space to pick his spot from distance six minutes after the break, in-form striker Deeney completed his hat-trick at the death with a cool finish

Fulham (4-3-3): Bettinelli; Grimmer, Bodurov, Burn, Stafylidis; Parker, Fofana (Williams 61), Christensen; Ruiz (Kiraly 19), Rodallega, McCormack
Subs not used: Hutchinson, Zverotic, Roberts, Dembele, Hyndman.

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