Craig Dawson has claimed Watford showed "spirit" in their confidence boosting win over Norwich City on Friday night.

The Hornets finally picked up a Premier League victory at the 12th time of asking when they scored two without reply away at Carrow Road and, speaking to on the official club Youtube channel, Dawson described the win as a reward for the players' hard work.

"I think you could see the spirit in the lads,” he said.

“Everyone put in a real shift and the fans brought us home in the last 20 minutes. It was tough but they were on our side all the way through the game and the early goal settled everyone’s nerves and raises confidence.

"It's a great feeling and reward for all the hard work in recent weeks. We’ve not quite had the results so I’m just happy for the lads for all their hard work and of course the fans as well who were great.”

As well as a victory, the Hornets picked up their third clean sheet of the season - all of which have followed the arrival of Quique Sanchez Flores, who has formed the side into a defensive unit that can be difficult for other teams to break down.

Dawson said the team are starting to finally reap the benefits of this defensive strategy and that more wins will follow.

“[The defence] is massively important for us and it’s something we’ve been working hard on,” he said.

“I think we defended from the from the front today and Will [Hughes] got stuck in there. It's obviously something we have worked hard on. I think we’re starting to see the benefits now and today was great for us to get two goals.

"I think the shape is so important for us and the work rate, I think we need to keep going as it’s just the start for us now.

“It was obviously important to go 1-0 up at half-time. The confidence of the lads was showing early in the game and it was just about starting the second half well, and I thought we did that. Obviously the sending off didn’t help us but the spirit and togetherness of the group was great and showed really well.

"It's great to go into the international break with those three points. Next week we will be working hard on the training pitch to make sure we can follow it up.”