It just had to be Troy Deeney, didn't it.

At the ground where he stood on the terraces as a young tearaway and the place where he had already scored three goals, the captain rammed in a match-winning penalty four minutes from time at St Andrew's to secure a big three points for the Hornets.

He said pre-match "I always score" at the home of the Blues and he was true to his word. He walks the walk as well as talking the talk. The pressure was on as the spot-kick came 360 seconds from time and was always likely to be the difference between a third straight goalless draw and he delivered. He just lives for moments like this, when he can play the starring role. He's done it time and time again during his 10-and-a-bit years here.

Deeney smashed his 33rd successful penalty for the club straight down the middle. Neil Etheridge probably knew what was coming but couldn't do anything about it. Not only did the spot-kick show nerves of steel, it also showed plenty of character as he had missed two early chances, one more presentable than the other. But he never shies away and always comes back for more. It was even his pass that led to the award of the penalty. That's why he'll go down as one of the club's greats and why he is now just 20 away from Luther Blissett's all-time league goalscoring record.

It was a key goal as the Hornets had looked set to drop down to fifth and allow leaders Norwich to open up a six-point lead at the top. Instead, they are only four off the top and just one off second place Bournemouth. Again, this wasn't a classic. In fact, it was a tough watch for large parts but there is no astérix next to it in the record books. It's all about grinding them out at this stage of the season, especially when it's cold and miserable, and moving onto the next one.

The less said about the first half the better, though. The only goal-mouth action came when Lukas Jutkiewicz flicked on a near-post corner and saw it bounce back off the far post. Gary Gardner then fizzed one over from range shortly after but that really was about it. There weren't many talking points for Paul Robinson and Tony Coton to talk about in the Hive Live studio.

The liveliest moment came when Maikel Kieftenbeld made a really late tackle on Domingos Quina. An unhappy Deeney and Tom Cleverley charged towards referee Matt Donohue who duly obliged with a yellow card. Kieftenbeld was lucky to get away with an early one on James Garner, as was Ivan Šunjić for one on Cleverley. That was all there really was to get the pulses raising for fans of the Golden Boys.

The second half wasn't much better. It took a while to get going and when it did, in a three-minute spell, Deeney was, surprise, surprise, the epicentre of the action. He crucially and quite brilliantly got his head on a corner to prevent Jutkiewicz from heading it and then, at the other end, should really have scored when a raking ball from Ben Wilmot put him clear. Etheridge came off his line and Deeney tried to lift the bouncing ball over him, but he didn't get enough purchase on it and the Philippines international gratefully caught it. He probably couldn't believe his luck.

Deeney didn't feel sorry for himself and was back in the thick of the action on 76 minutes, steering a header wide from a Ken Sema cross. The captain had his head in his hands after that one, probably disappointed he didn't hit the target. He was getting closer and closer.

He had been joined on the field by Stipe Perica at that point and it was the big Croation who made the difference and won the penalty, drawing a foul by Kristian Pedersen who was sent off. Deeney did the rest and then the boys at the back did the rest with relative ease, securing an eighth clean sheet of the season. The Golden Boys might not be pretty on the road but they really are a tough nut to crack.