Watford earned only their second win in 16 Championship games with victory over play-off hopefuls Brighton.

Anya fired the Hornets into an early lead with an angled shot across Tomasz Kuszczak and Beppe Sannino’s side were assured of their first win of 2014 on the hour mark when Forestieri made the most of a poor backpass from Gordon Greer.

Watford’s effective pressing game was a feature of their performance and Giuseppe Sannino, the head coach, said: “I knew that Brighton before this game were the best team in terms of goals conceded away from home and if we score two goals it’s because the pressing was very good. But also the desire of my lads and the effort that we were able to put into the game – we worked our socks off today.”

Watford did what they could not do against Nottingham Forest in midweek and held on to a 2-0 lead at home to Brighton. Their manager, Giuseppe Sannino, said: “I’m happy for my team because we came from three games where we didn’t get what we deserved.”