Will Hughes believes Watford have lacked the necessary consistency to grind out results in certain games this season.

It has proven to be another mixed campaign for the Hornets on the pitch in the Premier League, as after a bright start to the season which saw the Golden Boys sit in fourth place after their win over Arsenal in October, their form has tailed off somewhat since the turn of the year.

Head Coach Marco Silva was sacked in January and was swiftly replaced by Javi Gracia, who has successfully guided the club to safety for a third straight season in the top-flight.

But conceding late goals has been a common theme for this Watford side this season and Hughes believes the team have lacked the required consistency in certain games.

Hughes said: “Consistency is the key. It’s very difficult in the Premier League to maintain that. I think we started really well at the start of the season and we were quite high up the table, but we then fell off a bit. It’s just been in key games where we’ve needed to be more consistent and we would have found ourselves much higher up the table.”

The Hornets finally got the all-important win which took them past the 40 point mark on Saturday, as goals from Roberto Pereyra and Andre Gray secured the Golden Boys a 2-1 win over Newcastle United at Vicarage Road.

Hughes was moved out to an unfamiliar wide position during Saturday’s game but still played an important role in the win, as it was his ball into Troy Deeney’s path which kick-started the move which led to Watford’s first goal.

There was a sense of relief at Vicarage Road when the full-time whistle was blown, as unlike the games against Bournemouth and Burnley, the Hornets finally managed to grind out a victory on home turf for the first time since the win over West Bromwich Albion in March.

Had Watford shown more composure against Bournemouth, Burnley and Huddersfield Town, Javi Gracia’s men could have been challenging for a top ten place, but Hughes insisted that getting past the 40 point mark hasn’t been playing on the players’ minds too much.

He said: “I don’t think so. As players, we don’t think that we’ve got to get to this points tally and leave it there. We go into every game wanting to win it. Whether that be last season or ten games ago, we go into every game with the same mind-set.”