MICHEAL Tonge may not have scored for a year-and-a-half — but the goal at Pride Park which broke his duck on Saturday was well worth the wait.
The on-loan Stoke City midfielder crashed home a curling 25-yarder which would have made Kaka or Lionel Messi proud — sending Derby County on their way to a 2-0 win over Watford.
And Chris Porter, still feeling his way back after nine months out with a nasty hip injury, sealed the win with a clinical finish 13 minutes from the end.
The two moments of class ensured three points for the Rams on a day when many sides below them in the table picked up vital points, with wins coming for Sheffield Wednesday, Crystal Palace and Queen’s Park Rangers.
Derby looked comfortable after Tonge had given them the lead with his stunner and they reached half-time looking like the only team who could possibly win.
But Malky Mackay must have put something in his players’ tea as they stormed out after the break and had the Rams on the rack for long spells of the second half, without creating too many clear-cut opportunities.
Shaun Barker, and Jake Buxton in particular, coped well with the aerial bombardment, heading bravely time after time.
Nicky Hunt and Dean Moxey, too, defended well, although Moxey almost handed on-loan Arsenal starlet Henri Lansbury an equaliser only for Hunt to dig his fellow full-back out of a hole with a brilliant tackle.
It was in midfield and up front that the Rams struggled to hold onto the ball - before Porter took advantage of Jay DeMerit’s slip to seal a victory Derby just about deserved for their first-half display.
Nigel Clough made one change to his side following the 3-1 defeat at West Brom, with fit-again Rob Hulse (back) replacing Gilles Sunu.
Tonge moved back to the right of midfield, with Hulse teaming up with Porter in a powerful frontline.
Watford were unchanged after their 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United, with onloan Manchester United starlet Tom Cleverley still suspended.
Paul Green tested Watford keeper Scott Loach on eight minutes with the first chance either side created.
Stephen Pearson got past Adrian Mariappa down the left and surged into the box with one of his trademark runs before pulling the ball back to an unmarked Green 15 yards out.
He pulled the trigger but Loach was down quickly to his left to palm the ball away.
Tonge gave the Rams the lead with an absolute belter on 12 minutes.
Green was heavily involved as he gathered the ball and beat Mariappa and then John Eustace before laying off to Tonge 25 yards out.
He took a touch and pulled the ball onto his left foot before picking his spot and beating Loach with a perfectly placed curler off the underside of the bar. It was a cracking finish that would have graced any match.
Heidar Helguson wasted an excellent chance on 19 minutes when almost clean through.
Instead of letting Lansbury’s long ball drop as he charged towards goal he headed it to the side and allowed Moxey to sweep up.
Danny Graham nearly got in on 24 minutes as the Rams were too slow to stop Mariappa on the charge, with the full-back’s low pass almost finding the striker, only for the alert Stephen Bywater to get out and smother the ball.
Hulse swept downfield on the counter-attack on 34 minutes but there was little movement for him as he hit a testing centre, although Pearson did eventually fashion a chance for Green, who shot well over under pressure from DeMerit.
Watford threatened from a free-kick on 39 minutes, one of several puzzling decisions awarded against Hulse. Lansbury floated the ball in, DeMerit flicked on and Graham looped a header just over the bar.
Jon Harley drove a free-kick straight at Bywater from out wide two minutes from the break.
Watford started the second half brightly and Lansbury drew a decent save from Bywater on 55 minutes, the Rams stopper diving low to his right to divert the youngster’s powerful shot around the post.
Moxey, who had been outstanding all game, got away with a terrible error on 70 minutes.
Instead of clearing a long ball, he tried to be clever and flick the ball back to Bywater.
Intstead, he presented it to Lansbury on the edge of the box and only a brilliant tackle from Hunt denied the dallying Arsenal man. Moxey had got out of jail with his typical one horror error per game.
And just as they looked like making life difficult for themselves, Porter sealed the game for Derby with a cracking finish from 15 yards.
DeMerit made a terrible mistake as a long ball landed at his feet and gave the ball straight to Porter, who streaked away from the big stopper, surged into the box and hit a low right-footed finish past Loach from 15 yards.
Green drove a yard over on 85 minutes after Porter, who grew in stature as the game went on, robbed Mariappa and fed the midfielder wide on the right.
In one of the final acts of the game, Bywater pulled off a brave save at the feet of Graham three minutes from time after the striker got on the end of Lansbury’s deep cross and poked at goal from a yard out.