Javia Gracia felt Gerard Deulofeu was angry when he scored his superb goal to get Watford back into their FA Cup semi-final against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but he always felt the Spaniard would have an important role to play at Wembley.

The former Barcelona player had to settle for a role on the bench after the Hornets head coach opted to start with Andre Gray alongside Troy Deeney, but Deulofeu was introduced with his side trailing 2-0.

The substitute’s impact was dramatic, scoring with a stunning chip to halve Wolves’ advantage, before scoring the winner in extra-time after Deeney’s dramatic injury-time penalty had levelled matters.

“We knew before the game when we started with other players Gerard would be important,” Gracia said. “I knew, with more spaces but I didn’t know when we started to play we would be losing 2-0.

“In other games it was the same. We started playing with Troy and Gerard and Gray on the bench and he scored important goals for the team, against Everton, Leicester, in the last game two assists.

“All the players deserve to play and it’s not easy for me to choose the moments for all of them, but I try to choose the best moment for everyone.”

Asked about the calibre of Deulofeu’s first goal, Gracia said: “In that moment I think he was angry, but I like to see my players this way, with that attitude.

“They’ve felt angry in this moment to show what they are able to do and he helped the team, scoring two important goals. The first one was high quality but it’s not a surprise for me because all see all the chances.”

Watford will now meet Manchester City in the final on May 18, but the triumphant Hornets boss was keen to give praise to those sides the Hornets have overcome to get to the final two.

“I am not thinking about that [the final],” he said. I am enjoying the moment and I prefer to give value to all the teams we’ve played before; Woking, Newcastle, QPR, Crystal Palace and today Wolves, all of them playing really well, very good teams without exception and today we can say we come back to Wembley to play in the final and to give our best in that moment.”