Gross breaks the stalemate to end Brighton’s wait for a goal

This was not the afternoon of Premier League quality that Brighton supporters had envisaged upon their promotion from the Championship, but it was the sort of result that will go some way to keeping them in the top flight.

For the first hour of Brighton’s final home game of the calendar year, the Amex Stadium was desperately short of Christmas cheer. It was a match defined by fear, played by two sides who had gone a combined 12 Premier League matches without victory.

But then a Pascal Gross strike slithered beneath the diving body of Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, and Brighton’s run of seven games without a win had been brought to a timely end.

“Morale has never been low,” said Chris Hughton, the Brighton manager. “I work for a club and have a group of players that knew it would be a difficult season.” Tipped by many to go down, Brighton sit in 12th place at Christmas. “I am happy, but that’s one half of the challenge gone,” said Hughton. “The second half will not get any easier.”

For Watford, this was another staging post in a journey that has taken them from the Premier League’s surprise package to potential relegation candidates. If that feels dramatic, then consider this: Marco Silva’s side have now lost four games in a row, and five of their past six.

“It is a bad run”, said Silva. “We lost the game because we did not perform well. It was not a good game to see. Not a lot of quality.”

The shared lack of confidence was to be expected, but that did not make an agonisingly stodgy first half, in which referee Paul Tierney seemed determined to rid the game of its rhythm, any more palatable to watch. It was the home side who at least made an effort to score in the opening minutes, with the busy Anthony Knockaert causing problems. His exciting dribbling was routinely undermined by a wasteful final pass, though, or an insistence on beating his man for a second time.

Amid the unease there was some pleasure to be taken out of the impressive return of Brighton defender Connor Goldson, making his first ever appearance in the Premier League just nine months after undergoing heart surgery. Goldson could even have scored the opener, but his close-range header from a deep corner was palmed around a post by Gomes.

In a more lively second half, Tomer Hemed whipped a shot over the bar after a Knockaert run, before the everdangerous Richarlison stung the gloves of Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.

Finally, having been little more than another bustling midfield body for so long, Gross started to find space. First he drilled a shot wide from range, and then picked up Hemed’s pass and fired beneath Gomes to give the home side an unspectacular lead they just about deserved.

“We had a little bit of fortune with the goal but what you have to do is get more shots on target,” said Hughton. On Gross, he added: “He is capable of assists and scoring goals. Arguably, he could score more goals.”

Lewis Dunk should have added a second shortly afterwards, before Hemed also wasted a chance. One of the few chances Watford could muster inevitably involved Richarlison, but he headed wide before Stefano Okaka prodded over the bar in the front of the increasingly anxious travelling fans.