Watford were unable to overcome Hull City’s first-half opener as the Hornets fell to a 1-0 defeat at the MKM Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship.

The home side broke the deadlock inside 25 minutes from the penalty spot as former Watford player Ozan Tufan buried his effort into the opposite corner to the outstretched Daniel Bachmann. Although the likes of João Pedro and Imrân Louza looked to inspire the Hornets to an equaliser before the break, they were limited to very little in the way of clearcut chances.

Following the interval, the introduction of Keinan Davis looked to hand Watford much-needed momentum, but they were unable to capitalise on the few opportunities that they were able to create as they were beaten in East Yorkshire.

The Hornets will have a week to wait until their penultimate league fixture of the season as they make the journey to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland (Saturday April 29, 3pm KO).

Watford Head Coach Chris Wilder made three changes from the midweek defeat to Cardiff City, as Christian Kabasele, Leandro Bacuna and Ken Sema replaced Wesley Hoedt, Davis and Hamza Choudhury, with the latter dropping out of the matchday squad due to illness.

It took six minutes for the first meaningful chance of the encounter and it fell to the Hornets, dressed in their blue away strip. Neat interplay between Ryan Andrews and skipper João Pedro pinned the Tigers back, and despite quick footwork from Andrews to open up the opportunity for the Brazilian, João Pedro blazed it over the bar.

As the clock ticked past the 20-minute mark, there had been very little in the way of goalmouth action with both sides taking turns to maintain possession of the ball. But the home side eventually began to build momentum and won a penalty kick after Regan Slater was brought down by Andrews.

Stepping up to the plate was former Hornet Tufan, who slid the ball to the opposite side of Bachmann to open the scoring.

Watford looked to respond immediately to going a goal down as João Pedro pounced on a loose header from defender Sean McLoughlin. In his endeavour to get the strike on target, the Brazilian overhit his effort as it looped over both the Hull City shot-stopper and the crossbar.

The Hornets kept coming and had a few more chances to level the scoreline before the break. A nice run from Louza allowed the Moroccan to pick out João Pedro and, with five Hull shirts in the firing line, the forward did well to force Karl Darlow into a low save.

With the first-half having petered out, the travelling Hornets faithful were hoping for more in the second period. Wilder turned to his bench after just seven minutes following the restart and brought on Davis for Bacuna as the boss looked to change his side’s fortunes.

Looking to conjure up an opening, João Pedro won a free-kick on the left-wing and set-piece taker Louza delivered a decent cross, aimed towards the 21-year-old, but João Pedro headed it over the bar.

With momentum turning in Watford's favour, they had a strong penalty appeal denied after the ball appeared to strike the arm of Jean Michaël Seri. Despite Watford's protestations, referee Oliver Langford dismissed the claims.

Turning back to the bench, Wilder introduced Yáser Asprilla into proceedings, replacing Ismaël Koné as the encounter entered the final 15 minutes.

Watford came closest to levelling the game in the final stages as Davis flicked on Ryan Porteous’ through-ball, and with Sarr bearing down on goal the Senegalese winger found his dinked effort palmed away by Darlow. Ultimately, the Hornets were unable to break down the Tigers’ backline as they suffered a second consecutive defeat.