Another imperious display in defence from Craig Cathcart was the basis for a second successive clean sheet as Watford beat Blackpool on Saturday.

Head coach Slaven Bilic spoke warmly of his captain, and said he deliberately set up his back four in the second half so those on the left and right were paired together.

“We played Cathcart on the left of the centre halves, so that he was near Morris and could help him over there,” said Bilic.

“Then we had Joao Ferreira making a debut on the right and we had Sierralta nearer him as he speaks Spanish and Portuguese so they could communicate.

“They were two good combinations.”

Bilic has often spoken about Cathcart is a key component of the Watford side, and he reiterated that again

“I like Cathcart a lot. He is a leader. He is always a leader but today he was surrounded by kids and so he was the schoolmaster,” Bilic smiled.

“It was an extraordinary performance because it was extraordinary circumstances. This performance was solid, the result was deserved, we weren’t lucky.

“But the reason I am getting more excitement is because our line-up is so young. It would be crazy young for a friendly game, not to mention at this stage of a Championship season.

“Some games are about more than three points. This is one of those. It gives us not just hope, but helps us plan for the next game.

“There are going to be a few games where we are like this, but we’ve shown again today we can do it even without a lot of players.

“We had four or five debutants today, and they can only get better. That’s why this win feels like a bit more than three points.”

Ismaila Sarr was voted Man of the Match, and Bilic said he was delighted the Senegal international had grasped the challenge of being the ‘main man’.

“I told Sarr a few days ago ‘In every game we need you, but now we’re like Senegal in the World Cup without Mane’

“He stepped up for Senegal in the World Cup, and I told him today there’s no Pedro, there’s no this, no that – we’re going to run for you and do everything to help you, but you have to do extra things.

“And that is what he did. He ran hard, he was helping the team, he was leading the team, he was encouraging other players.

“What I like about him, and what I didn’t know before, was he likes that challenge. He likes to be important.”

Sarr particularly came to the fore after half-time, after a first half display from Watford that petered out after a bright start.

“They let us play but we didn’t stretch them enough,” said Bilic.

“We needed to be getting the wing backs up more often, and because we didn’t Sarr and Kone had to drop deeper. Then we had only Bayo up front and we created no chances.

“We needed to stretch them more and that is what we did in the first few minutes but after that we had a mentality where players were giving the ball to other players and hoping they would take risks with it.

“Instead we needed to impose ourselves. Step up, step in. That was what was missing in the first half.”