Watford head coach Xisco Munoz was delighted his first game in charge ended as a 1-0 victory over Championship leaders Norwich.

Ismail Sarr’s 39th-minute goal turned out to be just enough at Vicarage Road to end the Canaries’ five-match winning run and lift the Hornets up to fifth.

“I am very happy,” said the Spaniard, who left Dinamo Tbilisi to replace the sacked Vladimir Ivic. “This is our way, this is our style. The players played like a team, they gave everything.

“The last two days in training were very good so I congratulate the players. I am very happy because they worked very hard. It is a moment to enjoy.

“In these important games you have to fight from the first to the last minute and our fans will be very happy because they received these three points. For us it is perfect

“The only problem today was the we didn’t have the fans with us. With the fans it would have been much better but I’m sure all of the fans were very happy with the guys, they fought like animals.”

Watford are two points off Swansea in second but Xisco was cautious not to promise too much too soon.

“We will take it step by step,” he said. “Now our focus is on the next game. When we have more time to work with the guys it will be better.”

Watford Observer:

Norwich bossed possession but did not create many clear chances, although the Canaries were convinced top scorer Teemu Pukki had been brought down in the box by substitute Adam Masina near the end.

Manager Daniel Farke was disappointed with a lack of cutting edge plus the defending for the goal, which saw left-back Jacob Sorensen allow Sarr to connect with Ken Sema’s pass for a tap-in but did not make a fuss of the non penalty award.

“We have nothing to blame, the pitch or the referee,” he said. “We lacked intensity and sharpness, it was nothing else."