Watford striker Troy Deeney came off the bench to send Albion to more misery tonight.

Deeney forced home the only goal on 77 minutes as Watford beat the Seagulls 1-0 at Vicarage Road.

It was his first contribution after coming off the bench moments earlier.

The Seagulls had seemed set for another away point, despite a lack of menace in attack and their increasing injury worries.

They lost Gonzalo Jara Reyes in the warm-up and switched Romain Vincelot to right-back, with Ryan Harley coming into midfield.

They were forced into another reshuffle on the half hour as Liam Bridcutt limped off.

Mauricio Taricco came on at right-back and Vincelot went into midfield.

However it would probably be generous to suggest those switches were responsible for a poor first-half display from the Seagulls.

They survived a goalmouth scramble in the first minute and saw Adrian Mariappa head against the post on ten minutes.

Marvin Sordell angled a header just wide and then blazed a good chance over.

The Seagulls looked a more solid outfit after the break and almost went ahead going into the final 20 minutes when Gordon Greer turned a Craig Noone corner just wide at the near post.

But they never looked like getting back on terms after Deeney struck.