Watford’s relegation from the Barclays Women’s Championship was confirmed with a 2-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic at Vicarage Road.

Second-half goals from Melissa Johnson and Melisa Filis sealed the Hornets’ fate, after an end-to-end first 45 in front of 729 supporters.

Johnson reacted quickly to deflect Safia Middleton-Patel’s clearance goalward, and Filis put the game beyond doubt in added time.

Leaving the Hornets seven points adrift of safety with two games remaining in 2023/24, Watford will return to the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division after a single season in tier two.

Matt Bevans’ side nearly took the lead within 40 seconds after Laila Harbert’s through ball teed up Bianca Baptiste on the edge of the box. The forward’s shot took a slight deflection, and veered wide before being cleared.

The Golden Girls controlled the tempo for the first 15 minutes and could have gone ahead on a further two occasions. Baptiste had a header saved and Carly Johns’ left-footed effort was also kept out of goal.

The game took a turn from there, with the Addicks dominating possession for 20 minutes leading up to half-time. Freda Ayisi’s shot whizzed over the crossbar, and Karin Muya had a clear goalscoring opportunity only for Abbie Lafayette to make a vital tackle.

Lafayette burst onto the counter minutes later and chose to pass instead of testing Jessica Gray, but the delivery was intercepted before Michelle Agyemang could meet it. Agyemang would eventually get a chance to open the scoring, however, forcing Gray into making the save.

Charlton were the quickest out of the blocks in the second half, and were rewarded with a goal 10 minutes in. Johnson capitalised on Middleton-Patel looking to draw in the visitors’ frontline, getting her body in the way of the clearance and putting the ball into an empty net.

The Hornets struggled to fashion clear-cut opportunities after the goal. An audacious Agyemang strike went well over, and attacking substitutions were made, but Charlton strengthened their grip on the encounter and doubled their lead in added time through Filis.

Reading’s goalless draw with Blackburn Rovers puts safety beyond reach with two games to go.

Watford travel to play the latter next Saturday (April 20, 2pm KO) before a final-day clash with the former back at Vicarage Road (Sunday April 28, 2pm KO).