Watford's woes on the road continued with a 2-0 festive flop away at Huddersfield Town.

A Ben Foster blunder and an Etienne Capoue own goal put the Terriers ahead in a dismal first half for the Hornets, from which they were unable to recover despite a slight improvement after the break. 

A somewhat surprising lineup saw captain Troy Deeney drop to the bench alongside Nathaniel Chalobah, with Andre Gray starting in the lone striker position and Capoue returning to the midfield. Ben Wilmot was deployed in the left-back position in place of the unwell Kiko Femenia.

Christmas may still be a few days away yet, but Ben Foster was already handing out presents when he gifted Huddersfield the opening goal after just ten minutes of play.

The usually reliable shot-stopper was caught in two minds about the best way to deal with a Wilmot back-pass and eventually kicked the ball straight at Isaac Mbenza’s shins from where it bounced kindly into the path of Fraizer Campbell, who swept home from inside the box.

It had been a disastrous start, but the Hornets managed to muster something of a response and nearly benefited from a kind ricochet of their own at the other end when Tom Cleverley’s shot was deflected kindly into the path of James Garner, but his scuffed effort from all of three yards out was somehow smothered by Ryan Schofield.

Watford then began to try their luck with a number of long range efforts. Capoue, Garner and Cleverley all tried their luck but none of their efforts were aimed within Schofield’s goal frame, while Gray was denied at the near post by the keeper when he glanced Ismaila Sarr’s cross from the right towards the net. 

Following that brief attacking spell, things quickly worsened for the visitors with Vladimir Ivic forced to make a change when William Troost-Ekong hobbled out of the game after just half an hour. 

His replacement Francisco Sierralta immediately had to be bailed out by Christian Kabasele when Mbenza turned him inside out on the edge of the penalty area, with the man from Brussels sprouting up to put in a vital tackle at the last second. 

From the resulting corner, however, the Hornets served up more miserable festive fare with Capoue coming across as a total turkey, stuffing the ball into his own net with a lazy volley under little pressure from the home side.

It was a first half performance that only a Christmas miracle, or possibly a few tactical changes, would resolve, but there was little sign of either following the restart.

Nevertheless, Watford did at least begin the second half on the front foot and might have scored when Gray bundled his way through the Huddersfield defence, only to fire over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

The striker had another chance to score again on the hour mark but this time Schofield narrowed the angle sufficiently after the shot had been delayed for far too long, but not before Foster had kept out Carel Eiting at the other end, reminding the visitors that they still faced a threat.

The effort had clearly been stepped up somewhat by the Hornets, but the quality was simply lacking and try though they did, they continued to struggle to find the breakthrough. Wilmot had a header from a corner blocked by Gray en route to the bottom corner, with Capoue lashing over from close range in the ensuing melee. 

Ivic brought Stipe Perica, Marc Navarro and Adam Masina off the bench in one last throw of the dice, but a Sarr volley that flew over the bar and a tamely hit Marc Navarro free kick was about as much as they could manage, with Schofield also doing well to keep out Gray's flick from a Garner cross.

The defeat drops the Hornets down into fifth place with Swansea and Brentford both winning their matches. The fight back will have to begin on boxing day.