Watford will have to overturn a one-goal deficit in three days time if they are to reach Wembley and keep their promotion dream alive after losing the first leg of their play-off semi-final at Leicester City tonight.

The decisive moment of the contest came eight minutes from the end of normal time when Dave Nugent headed home a free-kick but it was a tight contest, with the Hornets having their share of the chances to gain the upper hand going into Sunday’s return at Vicarage Road.

The best of these fell to Matej Vydra in the second half when he was put clear through on goal by a Marco Cassetti pass, but the Czech international mishit a great opening straight at Kasper Schmeichel.

After all the question marks regarding Watford’s goalkeeping situation following the incredible sequence of events against Leeds United, they were answered as Gianfranco Zola made three changes from Saturday’s line-up.

Manuel Almunia had recovered from the hamstring problem that kept him out and returned between the posts, while the other alterations were both up front as Alex Geijo replaced the suspended Troy Deeney, who was one of Sky Sports’ studio guests for the night, and Vydra came back in Fernando Forestieri.

The good injury news continued on to the Hornets’ bench, with Jonathan Bond having recovered from what was a very worrying situation at the time to be involved with a protective mask if he was required, while John Eustace was able to be included after his prolonged injury absence.

Leicester, meanwhile, were unchanged from the side that sneaked into the play-offs following their last-gasp win at Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

And it was the Foxes who had the first chance of the game after three minutes when they countered following a Watford attack and Lloyd Dyer’s low cross was back-heeled towards goal by Nugent. It was routine save for Almunia but the threat was clear.

Dyer was always likely to be a danger on the left flank and he burst into the box less than 60 seconds later but this time his delivery couldn’t pick out a team-mate.

Leicester started the contest much the brighter of the two sides and were regularly committing five or six men forward in attack.

The visitors were not helping their cause by needlessly giving away possession in the opening stages. It was not long before more sloppy play led to another low cross from Dyer that flashed across the goalmouth.

It took the Hornets ten minutes to have their first passage of possession but the ball was not sticking whenever it was played into the final third and their opponents were on the attack once more.

Next, a Foxes corner wasn’t fully cleared and Nugent had a shot blocked. This was followed by a couple of more corners when Matty James’ long-range strike was deflected wide.

The hosts finally utilised one of their set pieces when James’ delivery was headed goalwards by Ritchie de Laet but it was too central and Almunia saved.

Having been firmly on the back foot, Watford twice went close to making the breakthrough in the 18th minute when a mistake by Jeff Schlupp gave Ikechi Anya a clear route to goal from around 40 yards. The right wing-back accelerated towards the area of the Leicester box but as defenders closed back in, he struck a low right-footed shot which Schmeichel could only push back out into the area. The ball then fell invitingly for Almen Abdi, who connected well with his right-footed follow-up but again the Foxes keeper was equal to it.

The Hornets kept the pressure on though, with Vydra seeing another effort deflected behind before, from the resultant corner, Joel Ekstrand missed the target with a hooked effort from the edge of the 18-yard box.

This gave the visitors a platform to build from and in the 23rd minute Marco Casssetti found himself in space to the left of centre at least 30 yards out and the Italian decided to chance his arm, connecting superbly with a powerful right-footed shot that only cleared the target by a yard or so.

That was a positive against Cassetti’s name but he was soon to counter-balance it with a negative, trying a careless pass and giving the ball away to Dyer, who attacked Lloyd Doyley before cutting the ball back to Nugent, who side-footed narrowly wide of Almunia’s right-hand post with the keeper rooted to the spot.

Schlupp picked up the game’s first booking on the half-hour mark for a foul on Anya towards the left side of his area and it nearly proved a costly mistake. Abdi swung over the free-kick, Nathaniel Chalobah mistimed an attempted header but did manage to chest the ball down to Cassetti, who laid it across to Anya and his strike would certainly have tested Schmeichel had it not been blocked behind.

The Hornets’ continued their decent spell, with Chalobah seeing a 25-yard side-footed effort held by the keeper before Wes Morgan received the home side’s second yellow card for a foul on Vydra on the left angle of the area. It was ideal territory for Abdi but his free-kick struck the top of the wall and looped over the back-tracking Schmeichel’s goal.

It was Leicester’s turn to go close as the interval approached though, with a ball over the top sending Anthony Knockaert sprinting away down the right. Cassetti managed to get back but the Foxes front man side-stepped him before riding a Daniel Pudil challenge before firing in a low effort that was deflected behind.

That was a good chance but an even better one was to follow when Sclupp’s angled ball in from the left-back area found Michael Keane and a team-mate coming in unmarked on the opposite side of the area and Keane took it first time on the volley, only to drag a clear opening well wide.

It was to be Zola’s men who were to have the last opening of a goalless first half though, with Ekstrand heading an Abdi corner from the right wide of the far post.

Much like the first half, it was the home side that made the better start to the second period but they had to wait until the 52nd minute for their first opening, with Dyer ending a run with a shot over the top.

Leicester’s yellow card count rose to three in the 58th minute when Andy King was cautioned for going through the back of Geijo but Watford were not able to capitalise on a promising free-kick opportunity as Abdi curled the 25-yard set piece wide.

Jonathan Hogg then shot straight at Schmeichel but in the 61st minute came Watford’s best opening so far and it was the kind of opening a Vydra of two or three months ago would probably have buried.

The opportunity arose when Cassetti played a lovely ball forward with the outside of his right foot, Geijo looked to be offside but let the ball run across his body to leave Vydra clean through on goal. But the Czech international, if anything, had too much time to set himself and in the end could only mishit a tame effort straight at the Foxes keeper.

Nigel Pearson made the game’s first change two minutes later, bringing on Harry Kane for Chris Wood, but soon after a decent spell around the home side’s area ended with Vydra scuffing another effort, this time taken first time, after Geijo had pulled the ball back to him.

But the confidence of Watford’s top scorer didn’t seem unduly affected by those chances going begging as, in the 71st minute, he let fly with a left-footed angled snap-shot that Schmiechel had to punch away.

Pudil saw yellow moments later for a foul on de Laet and that was to be the Watford man’s last involvement before he made way for Matthew Briggs.

It was the Hornets though, who were looking the more likely to make the breakthrough and another fine opportunity came their way in the 76th minute when Anya stood up a cross from the right but the sight of de Laet jumping in front of him perhaps briefly distracted Geijo, who put a clear header over the top.

Together with Vydra’s earlier chance, it was to prove a costly miss as Leicester broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute.

The Foxes were awarded a free-kick wide on the left and the ball was delivered at pace, with Nugent getting ahead of the defence to plant a back header past the helpless Almunia to make it 1-0.

It might have got even worse for the Hornets as almost straight from the restart, the hosts attacked down the right before a cross picked out the head of Knockaert, but he could only direct it straight at the keeper.

Zola decided to bring on Fitz Hall for Doyley with five minutes of normal time remaining, with Leicester looking to net a potentially priceless second before the Vicarage Road return.

It might have arrived when Dyer saw a shot blocked by Cassetti but the Hornets then had an opening of their own when Anya cut in off the right flank, only to get his strike all wrong.

Forestieri came on for Vydra in injury time, Hall was booked for scything down King and Danny Drinkwater replaced Knockaert but it is the Foxes who took the upper hand going into Sunday’s second leg.

Leicester City: Schmeichel; De Laet, Morgan, Keane, Schlupp; King, James; Knockert, Nugent, Dyer; Wood (Kane 63). Not used: Konchesky, Drinkwater, Marshall, Vardy, Logan and Moore.

Watford: Almunia; Doyley (Hall 85), Ekstrand, Cassetti; Anya, Abdi, Chalobah, Hogg; Pudil (Briggs 73), Geijo, Vydra (Forestieri 90). Not used: Eustace, Yeates, Bond and Battocchio.

Bookings: Schlupp for a foul on Anya (30); Morgan for a foul on Vydra (38); King for a foul on Geijo (58); Pudil for a foul on de Laet (72); Hall for a foul on King (90).

Attendance: 29,560 (1,651 away).

Referee: Neil Swarbrick.