On a day honouring Sir Elton John, it was Watford’s current rocket man Troy Deeney who stole the show and secured a vital victory.

In Malky Mackay’s post match interview he talked about how the man he brought to Vicarage Road over four years ago is now one of the most fearsome strikers in the division.

Deeney saved the Hornets from more frustration on home soil by netting a brace and in turn building on the momentum which we sparked at Fulham.

Although, contrastingly, our performance didn’t reach the heights of that thrashing, it’s the victories you grind out against resilient sides like Wigan Athletic which really do define a successful season.

In my opinion, Saturday’s win – although unconvincing – says far more about us as promotion candidates. 

However, surprisingly enough it wasn’t Deeney’s late stooping header which has stuck with me from Saturday.

In the midst of the pre match celebrations, Sir Elton mentioned during his emotional speech that, with the help of the Pozzos, Watford are now firmly in the top 25 clubs in the country.

Listening to Elton – who oversaw arguably the most successful spell in the club’s history – I couldn’t help but feel encouraged by his positive views regarding the Pozzo regime and the potentially efficacious future that lies ahead for the club.

But, for now, it’s all about taking our promotion push one game at a time. Our next step is to cement ourselves in the top 20 teams in the country by finally crossing that final hurdle.

There’s no doubt we have the wealth of talent – as Fulham found out – and the squad depth to become a Premier League side.

Ultimately, I believe it really comes down to having the cuteness to gain points when you’re truly out of ideas, as we did against an incredibly hard working Wigan.

The best sides at this level know how to tear sides apart but most importantly win games when they’re not expected too.

It’s all well and good to have the ability to play teams off the park but without the determination and grit to grind out victories our ability is redundant.

Last season, in a similar fixture we would’ve lost points, but now, on Saturday’s evidence, we look like a team who can win games ugly.

In previous campaigns, I think this has been our biggest downfall.

In games like the Play-Off final and the 2012/2013 final day disappointment against Leeds United, we lacked the savvy and cunning to get the job done when the odds were against us.

Now we must build on this ability and make it a permanent aspect of our game. Recently there was been a frustrating trend of teams visiting the Vic with no intentions to win the game, but to frustrate and cheekily rob us of our points.

But when our expansive style of play isn’t getting the job done – against Cardiff a fortnight ago most notably – it’s the nous we showed against Wigan which will put promotion within our grasp.