CRAIG BELLAMY inspired Liverpool to a comfortable victory at relegation-threatened Watford as the Reds responded to their midweek humbling by Arsenal in the best fashion.

Bellamy scored the first goal, made decisive contributions as Peter Crouch struck the other two, and destroyed Adrian Boothroyd's bottom-of-thetable side with his pace, movement and creativity.

Liverpool looked the stronger side in the early stages of the game, with Steven Gerrard and Crouch both going close, while the recalled Daniel Agger had a close-range effort ruled out for offside in the 12th minute.

But Watford showed they had the potential to threaten a minute later when Tommy Smith found the fit-again Hameur Bouazza, whose low drive from 20 yards took a slight deflection off Jamie Carragher and passed just wide of the right post.

The trend set in the early stages was soon resumed, however, and Liverpool took the lead 11 minutes before halftime. Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster was first to the ball after Crouch had eluded Mackay inside the penalty area, but Steve Finnan was perfectly placed to cut it back for Bellamy, who tapped the ball into the net from six yards for his eighth of the season.

Watford were punished again soon after when Kuyt headed the ball through to Bellamy whose shot was saved by Foster but the rebound fell to Crouch, who headed it into the empty goal for Liverpool's second.

Watford started the second half brightly but all hopes of a comeback were extinguished when Crouch scored his second and Liverpool's third following a devastating counter-attack.

Watford could not handle the pace of Bellamy, and after bursting on to Gerrard's pass and speeding past Jay DeMerit on the left, the Welshman squared the ball for the unmarked Crouch, who steered it into Foster's bottom-right corner from 10 yards.