They say you have to win ugly sometimes, and this was the Elephant Man of victories.

Watford went home with the points and having scored a worldy that counted for nothing in midweek, it was fitting that Yaser Asprilla should earn the 1-0 victory with only moment of class in the 90 minutes when he thumped a 20-yard volley just inside the upright.

Otherwise, this was a painful watch where Watford got a victory they badly needed to end a run of seven games without a win.

They also claimed an all-too-rare clean sheet, although that had as much to do with Rotherham’s often woeful efforts to break through.

The Millers has 19 attempts on goal, but just one of them was on target – a clear example of quantity over quality.

Watford themselves only had one effort on target, but it was that flash of brilliance from Asprilla – who had looked the most likely route to unlocking the home side – that counted.

The defence stood firm in the face of a barrage of long balls, set plays and throw-ins. Mattie Pollock returned and the game suited him, as he repeatedly got his head on the ball, and what he couldn’t head away he blocked.

Clearly the decision to bring in Francisco Sierralta was also based upon the anticipated aerial assault, and the additional physical presence certainly helped keep the wolf from the door.

What was less helpful was the way Mileta Rajovic found himself pushed around the pitch at will by the big but wily Rotherham skipper Sean Morrison.

At times it looked like a Dad playing his teenage son in the back garden – a more experienced, stronger and cannier individual handing out a lesson to a willing but ultimately less able opponent.

It meant that when Watford tried to play through the middle, the ball very quickly came back with interest – no respite for the back line and nothing created unless the ball went wide.

All in all, it was a game that offered little entertainment and – for the Watford fans – far too many moments where you were watching the action through your hands whenever the ball was hoisted into the box.

But it was a win, it stopped the rot setting in and, with a clear week ahead, offered a little boost in a period when the ‘schedule’ goes back to normal and the players have time to recuperate.

Nonetheless, the key question remains: can Watford be consistent and back this up at home next weekend? After all, they haven’t won any of their last six league games at Vicarage Road going back to late November.

An ugly win is fine and this result was very much needed – but it cannot be allowed to turn into a case of jam tomorrow.

The Hornets made four changes from the team that played at Norwich, with one of them enforced as the suspended Ryan Porteous was replaced by Pollock.

Meanwhile, Sierralta, Asprilla and Edo Kayembe came in with Jake Livermore, Giorgi Chakvetadze and Matheus Martins all dropping to the bench.

Ryan Andrews was on the bench for the fourth successive game.

The home side came out like an express train and the first 15 minutes were frantic with the ball hit or thrown into the Watford box at every opportunity.

However, the only chance Rotherham created in that spell was when Watford cleared a free-kick but were caught as Kioso was played in down the right. He dragged the ball back and Odoffin fired over the top.

The first threat from Watford came after 16 minutes as Kayembe's clever pass set Ken Sema away down the left, but a sliding tackle on the corner of the six-yard box stopped him.

From the resultant corner the ball was cleared but only as far as Asprilla. He crossed and Wes Hoedt rose in a crowd and headed wide.

Asprilla was having some joy down the right and after 25 minute he cut in and shot from 20 yards, the ball hitting a defender and spinning over the bar.

A minute before the interval Watford wasted a very good break.

Kone sent Rajovic away through the middle, and he slipped Asprilla in on the right. The Colombian checked but opted to try a pass back to Rajovic and the ball was cleared.

The decisive moment was the also the only real moment of quality in the game, and it arrived in the 57th minute.

A corner was cleared, Chakvetadze tried a shot which was blocked but when it came to Asprilla just outside the box he rifled a volley into the corner.

After that, as the game wore on, Watford sat deeper as they first switched to 4-2-3-1 and then eventually to 3-5-2, which led to the home side having pressure without properly threatening.

In the 70th minute Rotherham worked the ball from right to left and Revan hit a low bobbling shot which went narrowly wide of the upright

Eight minutes later Clucas sent over a corner and Morrison ran to meet it but his headed effort bounced down and up over the bar.

Perhaps the biggest scare came with three minute left when Revan met a cross from the left with a first-time shot that Hoedt blocked near the line.

Watford: Hamer; Dele-Bashiru, Pollock, Hoedt, Lewis (Dennis 85); Sierralta, Kayembe (Ince 54), Kone (Chakvetadze 54); Asprilla (Andrews 85), Rajovic, Sema (Livermore 75). Subs: Bachmann, Martins, Morris, Grieves.