Bradford City 2, Watford 1: It may not seem the stuff of open-top bus tours, street parties and tea with the Lord Mayor.

And there were no fans charging on to the pitch to mob their heroes at the final whistle.

But City can now toast a job well done.

While Leicester and Portsmouth are popping the corks at reaching the Premiership, the Bantams will have earned a quiet drink come the end of the season for simply ensuring they will start next season exactly where they began this one.

Not quite exactly. Let's not forget how far the club have come since the spectre of administration threatened their very future during the dark days of last summer.

For much of the season, City have had to wrestle with the ghosts from that nightmare. So why shouldn't they enjoy the moment after making it past the 50-point safety mark with a much-needed home win over Watford.

Nicky Law said: "It's a big achievement for the players and I think they've done remarkably well due to the season we've had. This has been a successful campaign.

"Everybody in football realised the difficult task we had in front of us. But fair play to everyone concerned with the club, the players, the staff and the fans, we've all pulled through and secured our status certainly for another year.

"It's been a long time coming getting past 50 points. We'd probably have been safe with the 49 we had but you feel a lot better having gone over that line.

"We've still got four tough games left, three of them away, although they've never been a worry for us. But I do feel easier going into those games knowing we are mathematically safe and that's a credit to everyone."

City actually winning on home turf is something of a sight for sore eyes. It is only the seventh time that has happened in 22 attempts and just the second in eight.

Make no mistake, Saturday was a great time to play Watford. Ignore all the talk about being professional to the last, their chins were dragging along the floor after losing an FA Cup semi-final six days earlier.

Ray Lewington made six changes from the Villa Park side but the corporate mood of the dressing room would have been the same. They were there for the taking provided City's attitude was right.

And, reassuringly, the spirit among the home players was spot on. Despite another funereal atmosphere about the place - which can't help to inspire the side - City took the bull by the horns straight away.

Gus Uhlenbeek set the tone with the first of many bombing runs up the right flank to win a corner. And when Simon Francis whipped in a danger-filled cross which Allan Nielsen bundled over his own bar, Watford knew they were up against it.

The first goal duly arrived after 12 minutes from that most predictable of scoring sources, Claus Jorgensen.

The Dane warmed up for his crack at Football League history this afternoon with a near-post nod from Andy Gray's cross after Alec Chamberlain had done well to bat down a shot by Francis.

City fans confidently predicted that would be the first of many in a goal-laden game against a side who had never won at Valley Parade.

Yet twice within the space of six minutes Watford could have been level. Micah Hyde clipped the bar from 20 yards and then Heidar Helguson managed to miss the sort of chance you would bank on his granny putting away.

The Icelander was right under Aidan Davison's bar to meet Tommy Smith's inviting cross. But somehow he got his connection totally wrong and screwed the header straight back in the direction of his gob-smacked strike partner.

"He was virtually on the line and cleared it," sighed Lewington. "At least he was in there to miss the chance, as they say, but it was an unusual one. Nobody could believe it."

Jorgensen was waging a one-man shooting crusade at the other end. And just before the break he nearly had the punters rushing to change their nominations for goal of the season with a sensational flick over his marker and volley which just brushed a Watford head to clear the bar.

But the Hornets found a sting in the tail as they used the blustery conditions to dig out a 41st-minute equaliser.

Hyde's punt forward held up on the icy-cold wind, dropping behind the back-pedalling David Wetherall and catching Davison in no man's land.

Helguson spotted his opportunity and gambled. He got there first with an impudent lob over the stranded keeper and just under the bar to wipe away any sniggers from his earlier gaffe.

Here we go again, we all thought. But City splendidly proved the doubters wrong by restoring their lead immediately from the re-start.

Jorgensen, naturally, burst into the left corner of the Watford box where he went down under a wild lunge from Sean Dyche.

The big defender, who scored a last-gasp winner here for Millwall last year, protested his innocence but referee Graham Laws had no doubts and pointed straight to the spot.

"It was a definite penalty," said Jorgensen later. "If you come in with challenges like that in the box then you are asking for trouble."

Jorgensen buried the last spot-kick at Norwich with Andy Gray away on international duty with Scotland. But City's top scorer resumed penalty duties and made it four from four from 12 yards, and 15 goals in all, with a cheeky shimmy and side-foot into the bottom right corner of the net as Chamberlain guessed wrongly.

That was the end of the scoring as the conditions won the second half. Watford had most of the play after the break but threatened sparingly and Davison was equal to their few efforts of note.

Wetherall headed over when he should have done better seven minutes from the end. But lightning did not strike for a third time as City survived without the late-goal repeats of Norwich and Millwall.