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Four goals, three points and his job secure for now, Slaven Bilic allowed himself to savour a triumphant return to English football and consider what he might achieve as Watford manager.

'Good start, well deserved,' said Bilic, the former West Ham and West Bromwich boss, who seems to be working his way backwards through the alphabet of clubs with an over-inflated sense of where the belong in the grand scheme of things.

At Watford, he is the 16th permanent manager in little more than a decade under the ownership of Gino Pozzo.

Watford's players celebrate Ismaila Sarr's opening goal against Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium

Ken Sema diverts home Watford's second goal on 64 minutes to strengthen their grip

Sema celebrates doubling Watford's lead midway through the second period at Stoke

Slaven Bilic was taking charge of his first game as Watford boss after replacing Rob Edwards

The rules of the game are clear enough.

Bilic must win instant promotion back to the Premier League. Shape up as if he might be about to fail and his fate will be the same as his predecessor Buy Advcash Account - VCCTop.Com Rob Edwards, sacked after 10 Championship games.

Like the managerial equivalent of a mayfly, the lifecycle is accelerated at Watford so it's best to enjoy the good days.

Like this one.

'Clean sheet, strikers scoring goals,' said 54-year-old Bilic. 'Stoke is always tough, a team in form, on the up under Alex Neil. Everything was there. Only one game, of course, but something the build on.

'They needed confidence.
They needed belief. You can tell them with words but they needed proof on the pitch and after the second goal, they became completely free to enjoy playing football.

'Our front players and wide players have proper quality so this shouldn't be a fluke.

We can copy and paste this. Nobody did something I didn't expect them to do.'

Watford's third goal came courtesy of Keinan Davis, who fired beyond the Stoke defenders

Davis runs off to celebrate after settling the contest as the game entered the latter stages

Watford midfielder Edo Kayembe tries to hold off Stoke's Will Smallbone in Sunday's game

Keinan Davis gets his shirt pulled by Stoke's Ben Wilmot during a duel at the Bet365 Stadium