Craig Cathcart believes showing fight while not panicking was the key to Watford's win over Aston Villa.

The centre back put in a man of the match display to nullify the likes of Danny Ings and Philippe Coutinho as the Hornets claimed a second league clean sheet of the season and ended a longstanding winless run.

After shutting out the Villa forwards during a cagey first half, the Hornets opened up more in the second and were able to snatch the three points with a late Emmanuel Dennis header.

Cathcart said it was a gameplan they had working on in training sessions with manager Roy Hodgson.

“It’s something we’ve been working on, we’ve tightened up since the manager has come in, he’s got us all pulling in the right direction and working hard together,” he told the club website. “I think the performance and the way we played today, we showed fight, and took our chance when it came so we can be really happy.

“We knew they had a lot of threat going forward. They’ve got players in the attacking areas who are clever and get in the pockets. We didn’t have to panic, defended well and got through the first half at 0-0 and knew there would be opportunities in the second half.”

The win is undoubtedly a big one, but with Hodgson saying after the match that the bottom three teams are still "divorced" from the sides above them, after a four point gap opened up between 17th place and the relegation zone, the players know they have to build on this victory and gain some valuable momentum, starting with the game against Crystal Palace this week.

“There are positives to take into the next match and the win is a big thing, three more points on the board and we want to kick on," said Cathcart.

“To come here to Villa Park and get a 1-0 win is a big boost for us and we want to carry that momentum into the next games.”