Watford have played better in recent games and lost but it is their name that will be in the hat for Monday’s FA Cup fourth round draw after beating troubled Newcastle United 1-0 at Vicarage Road.

Quique Sanchez Flores made four changes to his starting XI and, given this, it could be understood why the Hornets struggled for fluency and to retain possession in the first half in particular.

Newcastle didn’t make it easy for their hosts though, getting bodies behind the ball but also looking the more threatening of the two sides for the majority of the first half.

But it was the home side who were to lead at the interval after a misplaced back pass from Georginio Wijnaldum was seized on by Troy Deeney and he remained composed to score his seventh of the season.

Steve McClaren’s side tried to look for a way back into the contest after the break but they increasingly ran out of ideas and conviction as the minutes passed, while a single goal looked more and more like it would be enough to see Watford through and so it proved.

Changes were inevitable to the team that started the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City and in the end Flores decided on four. Sebastian Prodl replaced Miguel Britos in defence, Adlene Guedioura and Steven Berghuis made their first starts of the season in midfield with Etienne Capoue and Almen Abdi dropping to the bench, while Obbi Oulare made his debut in place of Odion Ighalo who was also among the substitutes.

Newcastle came into the tie off the back of three successive Premier League debuts and McClaren opted for just the one enforced change following the loss at Arsenal with Kevin Mbabu replacing the injured Jack Colback.

Watford had most of the possession in the early stages against what was at times a five-man Newcastle backline with Daryl Janmaat and Mbabu dropping back into the full-back positions.

Berghuis had the first attempt of the afternoon but fired an ambitious effort high and wide of the target from around 20 yards.

But it was the visitors who had the first clear opening in the eighth minute when Heurelho Gomes had to thwart Janmaat from close range after the Newcastle wide man had been able to get a second bite at a shot when Jose Holebas was unable to clear.

The Hornets responded to this close call positively with Guedioura almost setting up an opening after dispossessing Cheick Tiote before Rob Elliot was able to comfortably gather Jose Manuel Jurado’s attempted curler.

Both sides were in the mood to attack though, and Gomes again had to move smartly again to snatch the ball away from Aleksandar Mitrovic in the six-yard box after Wijnaldum had cut the ball back to his teammate in the near post area from the byline.

There was a moment of concern for Holebas when he went down clutching his right knee, but after receiving treatment and stretching the joint edgily to begin with the left-back was able to continue.

The visitors continued to make more of the running without causing their opponents too much concern, but that almost changed in the 27th minute when a poor Holebas free-kick was seized upon and Moussa Sissoko surged into the area before squaring to Ayoze Perez. The Spaniard should have at least hit the target but his composure let him down and he placed an effort wide of Gomes’ right-hand upright.

The attacking pressure continued to come from Newcastle, with Prodl forced into a brave defensive header at the near post to prevent Mitrovic from getting on the end of Sissoko’s cross from the right. That led two corners in quick succession, the second of which saw Mitrovic win a near-post flick but he put his header six inches or so over the top of Gomes’ bar.

Another corner went the visitors’ way in the 36th minute and this time Perez went for a deep delivery from the left to pick out an unmarked Janmaat on the opposite side of the box but he was unable to direct his first-time effort on target.

The Hornets had been second best for quite a spell but after Tiote had been booked for a 37th-minute foul on Guedioura they almost took the lead. Ben Watson whipped in a deep free-kick, Deeney was unable to get his head to it and the ball looked like it might have gone straight in until Elliot plunged to his left to divert the ball behind.

Back came Newcastle, with Mbabu cutting in from the left before hitting a shot which Gomes had to dive to his right to push behind.

The visitors had certainly done enough to deserve to go into the break level but two minutes before the break Wijnaldum made an awful error, knocking the back towards his own goal without looking and Deeney was onto it in an instant, rounding Elliot to tap home his seventh of the season to make it 1-0.

A certain Hornets substitute would have been proud of the scoop Deeney wrong-footed the Newcastle keeper to score with and at half-time Ighalo waited on the touchline to congratulate his captain by showing off his trademark move with a big smile.

Despite leading, the Hornets had struggled for their usual rhythm for large parts of the opening 45 minutes and it was no great surprise Flores opted to make a change at the start of the second half. Ikechi Anya replaced Oluare, who had worked hard but struggled to assert himself, meaning Jurado at times moved into the number ten role behind Deeney.

Newcastle also made a change before played restarted as captain Fabricio Coloccini made way for Jamaal Lascelles.

The first chance of the second period went the visitors’ way in the 51st minute when Perez tried to whip a shot from the edge of the area, but he curled it wide of Gomes’ left post.

Moments later, McClaren made his second change as Mbabu was replaced by Florian Thauvin as the visitors continued to look to try and get back on terms in the opening stages of the second half.

The equaliser wasn’t far away from arriving just short of the hour when after Newcastle countered, Sissoko came in off the left and hit neither a cross or a shot but sent the ball narrowly wide of the far post with the sliding Mitrovic not far away from turning it in.

A reasonable outing from Berghuis came to an end in the 63rd minute when he was replaced by Abdi as Watford continued to look relatively content to play on the counter.

Within the space of 60 seconds around the 70-minute mark, the Hornets could have gone 2-0 up but then been pegged back.

First Anya broke away down the left before playing the ball back to Jurado, who saw his shot blocked. The visitors immediately countered, working the ball up to Sissoko, who seemed to have done the hard work by riding a couple of attempted challenges to open up a clear shooting chance, only to scuff his shot horribly. However, the ball broke for Mitrovic, who appeared to have a formality of finish but he was unable to beat the back-tracking Gomes, although the striker’s blushes were spared somewhat by an offside flag.

Ighalo came on for Jurado after 73 minutes as Watford increasingly looked to have their opponents where they wanted them, controlling more of the play without creating any real opportunities.

By contrast, Newcastle looked more and more resigned to their fate, although McClaren did try one last throw of the dice by bringing on Siem de Jong for Tiote with eight minutes to go.

The visitors did try and rouse themselves for the closing stages, but it was to relatively limp effect until the third minute of injury time when Janmaat hit the side netting following a deep cross from the right on an afternoon when it was a case of job done for the Hornets.

Watford: Gomes; Nyom, Cathcart, Prodl, Holebas; Watson, Guedioura; Berghuis (Abdi 63), Deeney, Jurado (Ighalo 73); Oulare (Anya 46). Not used: Arlauskis, Britos, Ibarbo, Capoue.

Newcastle United: Elliot; Mbemba, Coloccini (Lascelles 46), Dummett; Tiote (De Jong 82; Janmaat, Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Perez, Mbabu (Thauvin 52); Mitrovic. Not used: Darlow, Gouffran, Toney, Sterry.

Bookings: Tiote for a foul on Guedioura (37); Guedioura for a foul on Janmaat (83).

Attendance: 18,259 (2,809 away fans).

Referee: Roger East.