The hosts took the lead within the first 50 seconds of the game as Troy Deeney played in Almen Abdi, who stroked the ball past Mikkel Andersen with the outside of his boot.

In the seventh minute, the Swiss international limped off with a suspected injury, Fernando Forestieri taking his place.

Watford could have doubled their lead moments later when Marco Motta lashed a volley from 25 yards out towards goal, but despite beating the Royals keeper, the ball cannoned off the bar.

The Hornets continued to push forward as Forestieri fired wide of the right-hand post on the quarter-hour mark and Deeney forced a block 25 minutes in.

Forestieri then came close to scoring a stunning bicycle kick from Adlene Guedioura's cross, but the effort was tipped over.

It mattered little because Watford succeeded in getting a second not long before the break, the Italian substitute playing a through-ball to Matej Vydra, who duly rifled high into Andersen's near post.

The game was put to bed three minutes after the restart as a one-two between Forestieri and Vydra was cut back to Deeney, who swept the ball into the net for the Hornets' third.

Reading showed no signs of giving up, however, with skipper Jem Karacan bagging a consolation by lashing home from the edge of the box in the 70th minute.

The Hornets restored their three-goal lead five minutes from time when the rampant Forestieri, already with two assists under his belt, got himself on the scoresheet thanks to a thunderous effort past the helpless Andersen.