Republic of Ireland international Rocco Vata scored the winner as Watford beat West Brom 2-1 at Vicarage Road in the first home game of Javi Gracia's second spell as Hornets manager.
The Glasgow-born attacking midfielder, who earned his first Irish senior cap against Bulgaria in March but remains a regular part of the Under-21s fold, found the net just before the hour mark for his second goal of the season and ensured that Watford took all three points to move up to 12th in the Championship table.
Northern Ireland international Isaac Price had given West Brom the lead on 34 minutes but Watford responded quickly, with captain Imran Louza equalising three minutes later.
Vata settled the game in the second half, following a storming run down the left by Marc Bola.
Bola left a challenger trailing as he motored along the byline and although Nathaniel Phillips intercepted the cross, the Albion defender got the ball stuck under his feet and could only get it to Vata, who fired through a cluster of bodies from 14 yards.
Vata's Ireland under-21 team-mate James Abankwah started in Watford's back four, with the Longford man making his seventh start of the league campaign.
Elsewhere, Morgan Whittaker's early goal at a near-empty Hillsborough sealed Middlesbrough a 1-0 win against bottom club Sheffield Wednesday and lifted them to within a point of Championship leaders Coventry.
Whittaker struck for the second game running in the sixth minute and that proved enough for Rob Edwards' side, who should have won by a wider margin and had a stonewall penalty turned down.
Wednesday remain winless in six home league games this season after slipping to their third straight defeat.
Rumarn Burrell scored for the second time in five days as QPR held 10-man Swansea at bay to win 1-0 and climb to eighth in the table.
Burrell - who was a scorer in his team's 2-1 weekend defeat at Millwall - grabbed the only goal of the game in the 18th minute.
Swansea had teenage Brighton loanee Malick Yalcouye shown a straight red hard in the 34th minute after he appeared to clash heads with QPR defender Steve Cook.
Yet Swans substitute Zan Vipotnik might have earned the 10 men a point in added time but failed to turn in a cross from two yards out.
It is just one defeat in eight games for QPR, but Swansea - who drop to 16th in the table - have not won at home since August.
Nathan Broadhead scored a first-half winner as 10-man Wrexham recorded a narrow 1-0 result against Oxford for their first home league victory since gaining promotion.
But Phil Parkinson's side made heavy weather of the long overdue success, playing a man down after Callum Doyle's 67th minute sending-off.
Doyle received his marching orders for a crude challenge on Siriki Dembele but Wrexham held on to collect three points at the Racecourse at the sixth time of asking.
The win also extended the Welsh side's unbeaten run over their hosts to 13 games, dating back to March 1983.
Additional reporting: PA
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