A wait of more than four months and 459 minutes finally came to an end at Vicarage Road tonight as a Will Hoskins late show booked Watford’s place in the second round of the Carling Cup with a 1-0 victory over Bristol Rovers.

Until the former on-loan Nottingham Forest frontman scored two minutes from time to deservedly send the Hornets through, you had to go back to Tommy Smith’s goal 11 minutes from time in the 2-1 win over Coventry City on April 5 for the last occasion a visiting keeper was beaten on his travels to this part of Hertfordshire.

But Hoskins’ first goal in yellow was a deserved reward for patience and some attractive football at times from Aidy Boothroyd’s new-look Watford that again suggested it will yield results if a cutting edge can be found.

It was the home side who had the first sniff of an opening after two minutes when Theo Robinson did well to work the ball out to Lionel Ainsworth on the right, but his cross was too close to Steve Phillips.

The first shot for Watford arrived soon after when Hoskins, who appeared to have been given licence to roam, battled well to open up an opportunity and forced Phillips to go to ground to save his left-footed effort from 20 yards.

The Hornets continued to look bright and lively, trying to zip the ball around when they got the opportunity on a surface slickened up by the pre-match rain, and they created their next opening after 11 minutes when Hoskins sent over a useful cross from the right, but Jon Harley wasn’t quite able to grow tall enough to direct a header on target.

But having been camped in their own half virtually since kick-off, Rovers almost took the lead in the 15th minute. The home rearguard were caught napping when Rickie Lambert slid the ball through to Jeff Hughes, who had time to turn before curling in a ball that turned out to be neither a cross nor shot as it drifted wide of Scott Loach’s right-hand post.

Within two minutes, it was Watford’s turn to nearly go in front. Hoskins got the break of the ball when an attempted clearance rebounded to him off the back of Craig Disley, and the Hornets forward swept the ball to the left side of the area where Robinson was forced wide but, with Phillips in no man’s land, he managed to slide the ball past him but just the wrong side of the keeper’s left-hand post.

Ainsworth then worked a neat give-and-go with Robinson on the edge of the Bristol box before firing high and wide, before a gorgeous 40-yard pass from Mat Sadler sent Robinson clear on the left, but his attempted low cross was too close to Phillips.

Hughes tried a speculative attempt at the other end after 31 minutes, but the Hornets’ dominance continued with Robinson and then Hoskins both seeing promising individual cameos end with a shot over the top and blocked respectively.

However, a good first half’s work – with the exception of a goal – could have been undone in the last minute of the opening 45 minutes when Chris Lines fed the overlapping David Pipe down the right, but his cross failed to pick out a fellow blue and white shirted player.

The second period began in another monsoon, but the Hornets continued to press forward with Hoskins dragging a 25-yard effort off target. Jenkins showed he was not lacking in confidence either, hitting a 25-yard rising drive over the top on 48 minutes.

Hughes mustered the visitors’ first on-target attempt three minutes later with a low daisy-cutter that didn’t trouble Loach, before another throw back, but to more recent times, entered the fray with Ashley Young’s younger brother Lewis handed his first senior appearance at the expense of Ainsworth after 57 minutes.

However, Rovers again demonstrated they offered a threat soon after when Jenkins did well to deal with another dangerous Pipe cross from the right. But the pattern of the game was soon resumed when a ball sat up invitingly for Francis on the edge of the area, but he fired over the top.

Boothroyd played his final hand with 20 minutes remaining, with Al Bangura replacing Francis and Billy Gibson becoming the fourth new first-team face of the night at the expense of Harley.

It took seven minutes for the Hornets to muster another opening, but it wasn’t far away from producing the opening goal, with the lively Hoskins seeing another effort from the edge of the area deflected into the ground and over the bar after some neat inter-play off the right flank involving Lloyd Doyley and Robinson.

With the prospect of extra-time continuing to loom large, came what wasn’t far away from being a real collector’s item, with Doyley hitting a well-struck on-target shot that was blocked en route to goal.

But within 60 seconds four months and more than 450 minutes of waiting finally came to an end, and it was a moment for Hoskins to savour. Gibson was the creator, sliding the ball into the feet of the striker, who cleared the ball out of his feet before calmly sliding it wide of Phillips to break Rovers’ resistance and net his first for the club and send his side into round two.

Watford: Loach; Doyley, Bromby, Mariappa, Sadler; Jenkins, Francis (Bangura, 70), Harley (Gibson, 70); Ainsworth (Young, 57), Robinson, Hoskins. Not used: Avinel, Parkes, Henderson, Poom.

Bristol Rovers: Phillips; Pipe, Anthony, Elliott, Lescott; Lines, Disley, Campbell, Hughes (Rigg, 89); Lambert, Duffy (Williams, 79). Not used: Hinton, Hunt, Parrinellow, Reece and Green.

Bookings: None.

Attendance: 5,574.

Referee: Dean Whitestone.