Watford manager Sean Dyche claimed he was “delighted” with his side’s performance as they progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 4-2 victory over Bradford City.

Watford took an early lead through Troy Deeney and the Hornets went into half time 2-1 ahead thanks to a neat Marvin Sordell finish shortly before the break.

A double from Craig Forsyth put Watford 4-1 up and although Bradford had a goal ruled out late on which could have made it 4-3, the Hornets never looked like losing the contest.

Dyche said: “I am delighted with today’s performance for the simple reason that we took it very seriously. You could tell from the team that I put out that we were going to take it seriously.

“I believe in the FA Cup and I think it has a fantastic history, which I have had a tiny part of [when Chesterfield reached the FA Cup semi-final].

“All credit to teams like Bradford because they know they have nothing to lose and everything to gain, which can be a real weapon. I have used it myself in a team [Chesterfield].

“We had to take it really seriously and organise and prepare mentally against that. So I was really pleased.”

He continued: “Bradford were very organised and they made it uncomfortable. They put a lot on top of us, behind us and in the box through throw-ins and set pieces.

“We dealt with that and some of our play was controlled, there were also some very good moments and moments of individual skill.

“It was the second time at home this season that we scored four goals and that is a valuable commodity because we want to score goals, no more so than when we are at home.”