Gianfranco Zola has hailed the impact of Watford’s half-time substitutes after his side came from behind to beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 tonight.

The Hornets were 1-0 down at the break and could have been further behind had it not been for several saves by the outstanding Jonathan Bond and header which seemed to cross the line but was not given.

Zola switched to a 4-3-3 formation at the break and introduced Nathaniel Chalobah and Fernando Forestieri from the bench – with the Argentine scoring Watford’s two goals.

Zola said: “It was easy to point out the problems. In the first half we were losing too many confrontations at the back and they were picking up all the second balls, something which in this league you can’t afford to do. Especially against good teams like we played today.

“Also we needed to have a bit of extra quality going forward. In the first half, our passing was really bad on a few occasions. It was not good enough and not as good as normal. As soon as we improved that, things got better.”

Zola continued: “We know it is getting tight for everyone and all the games will be really difficult so you need to win games in difficulties and we did that.

“The quality we put on in the second half made the difference and covered some of the difficulties we had during the game, especially in the first half.

“I thought they created a lot of problems and fortunately the two players who came on in the second half gave use the extra quality we needed to win.”

He added: “They really made a big difference and that is what you need sometimes. When things don’t work well, you need to be able to change things and Fernando and Nathaniel did exactly that today. I am very pleased with that [the substitutions].”

Click here to read tonight’s match report. Further reaction will be uploaded tomorrow.