Watford put some much-needed breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over bottom of the league Norwich City this evening.

The Hornets had to come from behind in order to claim the three points however, after Emiliano Buendia opened the scoring after just five minutes. Craig Dawson levelled soon after, before Danny Welbeck’s sensational overhead kick clinched the points in the second-half.

Nigel Pearson resisted calls from some Hornets supporters to drop captain Troy Deeney, but he did make an attacking change to his starting 11, with Welbeck brought in in place of Nathaniel Chalobah, while Adam Masina was restored at left back, with makeshift full-back cover Adrian Mariappa returning to the bench.

The game got off to the worst possible start for the hosts, who were behind after just five minutes.

Onel Hernandez got the better of Kiko Femenia for the second time in the contest’s opening stages and cut inside, before squaring to Buendia in the penalty area. He skipped away from Masina and curled beyond Foster into the far corner.

The lead wouldn’t last long however, as Watford replied just five minutes later.

Ismaila Sarr was tripped just to the right of the penalty area and Etienne Capoue’s delivery was nodded home at the back post by Dawson, who had slipped away from his marker.

Neither side really took control after that, with possession conceded cheaply by both sets of players and genuine moments of creativity something of a rarity.

Welbeck came closest to finding an advantage in the first 45 when he met Will Hughes’ corner, only for Tim Krul to palm it away with a quick reaction save, while Teemu Pukki scuffed wide with the best chance at the other end.

Welbeck would go on to squander another header before the end of the half, while Abdoulaye Doucoure failed to get over the top of Deeney’s cross and nodded well over the top.

The visitors looked the more likely to score immediately following the break, with Pukki flicking the first chance of the half wide before Foster denied Max Aarons with a smart save. They were misses the Canaries would live to regret as Welbeck turned the tie in Watford’s favour, albeit against the run of play, soon after.

Sarr’s pass at the end of a swift counter-attack looked to have been cleared by Aarons, but instead the ball looped high up into the air and fell kindly for Welbeck, who scored his first league goal for the Hornets in style, smashing the ball into the top corner with an emphatic bicycle kick.

It was the last moment of real quality in the match, which soon turned into a scrappy affair once again, with neither side able to really dominate possession.

Norwich would go on to create another chance that they really should have done better with when Jamaal Lewis’s cross from the left was flicked on by substitute Josip Drmic into the path of Ondrej Idah, who failed to make enough of a connection to turn the ball into the net from inside the six-yard-box with just five minutes remaining.

The win gives Watford something to build on in their next game, but safety is still not quite assured, with Manchester City and Arsenal both waiting for them following tough games against Newcastle United and West Ham.

However, they are inching their way closer to Premier League survival and these three points will do wonders for their confidence as well as their position in the table.