WRITING in his programme notes on Wednesday night, Tony Mowbray told of his delight at having eight different Sunderland players on the scoresheet in the first nine games of the season.

He won’t have expected the ninth to be Niall Huggins. And certainly not in the manner in which the 22-year-old broke the deadlock against Watford and set the Black Cats on their way to a 2-0 victory, their sixth win in their last eight games.

What a way to score your first career goal. With just two minutes to play at the end of a rather tepid opening period, Huggins lit up the Stadium of Light with a brilliant weaving run followed by a stunning strike into the top corner. Huggins grew up playing as a forward for Leeds United’s youth sides and turned back the clock.

Turn the clock back 60 seconds from his brilliant goal on Wednesday night and Watford were adamant they should have had a penalty when Luke O’Nien appeared to needlessly barge into Francisco Sierralta. The claims were waved away and the Black Cats took full advantage. They kicked on after the break without really breaking sweat, wrapping up the comfortable win thanks to a header from Abdoullah Ba – in the team in place of the injured Alex Pritchard – just after the hour mark.

This wasn’t Mowbray’s side at their best but they didn’t need to be. Sunderland’s home form was a major issue last season but they’ve now won three of their four games at the Stadium of Light since their opening day defeat to Ipswich. Mowbray’s side are fourth in the Championship and look a good bet to stick around at the top end.

As for Watford, they were dreadful and their rotten night was capped by a late straight red for half-time substitute Ryan Andrews for a lunge on Jack Clarke.

The Hornets headed for Wearside having failed to win on the road since January and with very little attacking intent. The early signs suggested that this was going to follow the trend of so many home games from the past year or so, with Sunderland dominating possession and tasked with breaking down a visiting side happy to stifle and frustrate.

The visitors had less than 40% of possession in the first 20 minutes and didn’t manage their first shot on Anthony Patterson’s goal until the half hour mark.

But Sunderland weren’t at their free-flowing best either. Other than a couple of bursts from Clarke and flashes from Patrick Roberts, the Black Cats looked short of ideas.

Step forward, Huggins. When he received the ball near the touchline on the right with just two minutes to play in the first half, there was no real cause for Watford concern. But the full-back – who has put last season’s injury misery behind him - set off on a driving run, skipping past Chakvedadze and Hoedt before hitting an unstoppable drive into the top corner.

As Sunderland celebrated, Watford complained about the O’Nien incident a moment earlier.

Despite their frustration, it was the Hornets who emerged from the break brighter and looked the more likely in the early stages of the second half.

That forced Sunderland to up the tempo again. Ballard headed just over from a Roberts cross before Ba flashed a shot across the face.

The crucial second goal came two minutes after the hour mark. Sunderland played a corner short and eventually worked it right to Burstow. His cross was headed back across the face of goal by Bellingham and Ba was on hand to nod home at the far post.  

Such was Sunderland’s comfort as the game moved into the final 20 minutes, Mowbray was able to give Roberts a breather, replaced by Adil Aouchiche, who almost made the perfect introduction when he pounced on a Watford error and raced in on goal but had his shot cleared off the line by Porteous.

Watford's misery was complete when Andrews saw red with just three minutes to play.