Just one point separates Watford from the top of the Championship tonight after Slavisa Jokanovic’s men rolled up their sleeves and battled to a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Vicarage Road.

The Hornets are now level on points with second-placed Derby County, who lost a second consecutive match, but the visitors offered a stern examination and will feel they deserved to take something from the game.

The decisive goal arrived early when Troy Deeney fired his 15th of the season high into the net after Kit Symons' men had failed to clear a corner.

Although Watford limited the Cottagers’ chances, the visitors provided a good challenge in the opening period, although the hosts were unfortunate not to double their lead shortly before the interval when Matej Vydra struck the crossbar.

The Cottagers arguably should have been reduced to ten men when Jazz Richards shoved Vydra to the ground 12 minutes after the restart, but the visitors will feel they did enough to earn a point – their best chance coming with ten minutes to go when Heurelho Gomes made a fine save to deny Ross McCormack.

Much of the debate in the build-up to the game was whether Odion Ighalo would return to the starting line-up after missing Saturday’s 3-2 comeback win at Leeds United. Ultimately, Jokanovic decided to name his top scorer among the substitutes, but there was a surprise or two as he made five changes and returned to a 3-5-2 formation.

Tommie Hoban and Gabriele Angella returned to the backline, with Joel Ekstrand missing through injury, while there was a debut for Marco Motta, a first start of his second loan spell for Adlene Guedioura and Daniel Pudil was also restored to the line-up. Juan Carlos Paredes, Ikechi Anya, Miguel Layun and Daniel Tozser dropped to the bench.

Fulham came into the game off the back of a surprise 2-0 victory over leaders Derby County and boss Symons made two changes, both in midfield. Seko Fofana and Sean Kavanagh came in with Lasse Vigen Christensen and Scott Parker not involved.

The opening minutes were on the frenetic side, with the ball spending more than its share of the time in the air being headed back and forth. Gradually though, play began to settle, with both sides looking to knock it around on the pitch.

No chances were created early on but in the ninth minute Watford were up and running.

Vydra won the first corner of the match which Almen Abdi took from the right and Craig Cathcart flicked on at the near post, forcing Marcus Bettinelli to plunge to his left to claw the ball away. The Fulham defenders failed to react to the bouncing ball though, unlike Deeney who smacked a rising half-volley into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 and net the Hornets’ 70th goal of the campaign.

Having take the lead, Watford had to defend a dangerous set piece soon after when McCormack won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. The striker took it himself right-footed but failed to get the ball over the wall.

The home side should have been awarded a free-kick of their own in a promising position in the 14th minute when Vydra was clearly held back by Nikolay Boudurov as he tried to spin away from the Cottagers defender to get on the end of a Deeney pass, but referee Trevor Kettle was unmoved.

Play quickly switched to the other end as McCormack was released in the penalty area but Gomes stood up well to save the striker’s left-footed shot.

The visitors continued to probe, but the Hornets were generally defending well and looking threatening on the counter. One example saw Motta play a superb pass that nearly put Vydra in, but he was just beaten to the ball by Bettinelli.

Abdi had Watford’s second effort of the night with a strike from 20 yards that he didn’t really get hold of and Bettinelli was equal to it, but the opportunity stemmed from an excellent piece of chest control by Guedioura, bringing the ball down and driving forward almost in one movement.

Soon after though, the Hornets had to concede a corner when Bryan Ruiz threatened to pull the trigger on the left side of the penalty area after being set up Cauley Woodrow and then Angella had to make an excellent defensive header after Ryan Tunnicliffe had got in around the back to head dangerously back across goal.

The Hornets were far from having it all their own way but they almost went 2-0 up in fine fashion in the 36th minute when a ball foward was nodded back by Vydra to Abdi, who didn’t break stride as he sent a superb right-footed strike whistling narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

Moments later though, Gomes needed Ben Watson to come to his rescue when he came for a long free-kick into the box and was beaten to the punch, but the midfielder was behind him to head clear.

If Abdi had been close to equalising, Vydra was inches away in the 42nd minute when his first-time right-footed curling shot on the turn looped over Bettinelli and cracked off the crossbar after good work from Guedioura coming in off the left had set up the opportunity.

The last effort of the opening half saw Ruiz see a shot deflected through to Gomes, although Pudil was then left in some discomfort after being caught on the head when he was challenged heavily by Richards.

Pudil was on the receiving end of even more over-zealous challenge seven minutes after the restart when he was clattered into the hoardings by Fofana, a foul which earned the Cottagers midfielder the first yellow card of the evening.

The first opening of the second period came soon after when Cathcart met a deep Abdi corner, but was unable to generate enough power on his downward header to trouble Bettinelli.

There was already an edge to the game and the touch paper was lit in the 57th minute when Vydra tried to get on the end of a Guedioura through ball and as he couldn’t get there, he bundled Richards over. The Fulham defender’s reaction was to get to his feet and blatantly shove the Hornets striker to the ground, but the referee – much to the disbelief of the majority inside Vicarage Road – deemed the offence to be only worthy of a yellow card.

Before Abdi could take the resultant free-kick, which he was to strike the wall with, Jokanovic made his first change as Layun came on for Pudil.

Woodrow then headed a corner over before Abdi sent his latest strike from the edge of the area wide as the hour mark passed.

Woodrow was replaced by Hugo Rodallega after 66 minutes and at the same time Ighalo returned to the fray at the expense of Vydra. And the Nigerian almost had a chance with his first touch after Deeney had dummied a Layun pass through to him, but the Hornets’ top scorer was unable to get the ball out of his feet as he turned to shoot.

Fofana saw a shot deflected wide by Watson at the other end and from the resultant corner, Shaun Hutchinson headed over as the visitors’ quest for an equaliser continued.

Back came Watford with Abdi striking a half-volley from 22 yards at Bettinelli after a Layun cross had been partially headed clear, before Fulham completed the substitutions with 14 minutes remaining as Matt Smith and former Vicarage Road loanee Alex Kacaniklic replaced Ruiz and Kavanagh respectively.

Gomes hadn’t had much to do in the second half but he needed to be at his sharpest in the 80th minute, doing very well to deny McCormack from close range after the ball had been flicked into the striker’s path.

Guedioura was booked for a foul with seven minutes of normal time remaining as the Hornets continued to come under pressure, with Rodallega then sending an acrobatic effort over the top.

Abdi continued what had become a shoot on sight policy by fizzing an effort not too far over from the edge of the area before he made way for Fernando Forestieri with four minutes to go.

Fulham kept pushing until the last though, as Smith headed a cross from the right over and then a grateful Gomes clutched a McCormack shot from the outside of the area to his chest before the final whistle went, bringing with it a loud roar from the Rookery as the Hornets’ push for automatic promotion continued to gather pace.

Watford: Gomes; Cathcart, Angella, Hoban; Motta, Abdi (Forestieri 86), Watson, Guedioura, Pudil (Layun 57); Deeney, Vydra (Ighalo 66). Not used: Bond, Paredes, Anya, Tozser.

Fulham: Bettinelli; Richards, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stayflidis; Fofana, Tunnicliffe, Kavanagh (Kacaniklic 76), Ruiz (Smith 76); Woodrow (Rodallega 66), McCormack. Not used: Kiraly, Hoogland, Amorebieta, Dembele.

Bookings: Fofana for a foul on Pudil (52); Richards for a foul on Vydra (57); Guedioura for a foul on Stayflidis (83).

Referee: Trevor Kettle.