Watford 1-0 Hull City

Watford are unbeaten in four league matches

Hull City suffered their sixth straight Premier League defeat as they conceded a late own-goal against Watford at Vicarage Road.

The game appeared to be heading for a draw until Hull captain Michael Dawson deflected in Daryl Janmaat's cross on 82 minutes.

Watford dominated the game with Younes Kaboul and Roberto Pereyra hitting the woodwork in the first-half, but they failed to muster a shot on target in the match.

Hull stay in 18th and are without a league win since 20 August, while Watford move up to seventh.

• Relive Watford's narrow win

Watford are now above Manchester United and champions Leicester in the Premier League table after 10 games.

Hull meanwhile, are on their worst run in the top flight since January 2009, when they last lost six in a row.

'A cruel defeat'

Hull manager Mike Phelan said his players were "depressed" after the game, which he described as a "cruel defeat".

The Tigers had defended resolutely for 82 minutes until Dawson's own-goal and the devastation was plainly written on the former Tottenham defender's face at full-time.

In their past five games, Phelan's side have conceded 19 goals so a clean sheet and a draw would have been the perfect tonic.

For all Watford's dominance and their 22 shots, they failed to muster a single effort on target and Hull's defence worked hard with seven shots being blocked.

After being anonymous in attack in the first-half, Hull pressed forward after the break with Abel Hernández having their best effort, but his shot was straight at Heurelho Gomes.

Hull missed their injured attackers Adama Diomande, Dieumerci Mbokani and Robert Snodgrass, and with only three goals in their last six league games are clearly lacking an edge to their forward play.

Dawson's own goal was unfortunate - as Phelan said afterwards: "It could have gone anywhere."

Three points, but no shots on target

Watford had 22 shots, 15 off target and seven blocked

Watford are the first team to win a Premier League game without directing a single shot on target since Sunderland beat West Brom in January 2006.

Not that Walter Mazzarri will care after his side moved up to seventh in the table.

His side have certainly impressed this season with wins over Manchester United and West Ham and they have only lost once in their last seven league games.

Speaking after the game Mazzarri said he was "happy" and felt his side's performances this season deserved two or three points more.

They looked comfortable against Hull and were unfortunate not to have scored through Kaboul and Pereyra, while captain Troy Deeney had a hatful of chances to score his 100th goal for the club and Odion Ighalo went close late on.

Man of the match - Nordin Amrabat

The Watford winger was substituted just after Watford took the lead and Hull's Sam Clucas would have been the most relieved man on the pitch. The Morocco international came out on top in every duel and at one point left Clucas sitting on the floor. Amrabat was Watford's most influential attacker and made six key passes

What they said:

Hull boss Mike Phelan: "It's very hard to take. I've got a depressed dressing room after the efforts and the work they put into the game. It's cruel. If it is a worldy then you can hold hands up.

"We were competitive enough in the game, we created probably the best chances in the game, but were are on the end of another defeat. We have to react to that and I am sure we will do next week.

"When I think about it we could have done better at defending. It is a cruel one, it flashed across the box and hit someone on the leg and has gone in. It could have gone anywhere.

"To win a football match, you have to score goals and try and get that from forward play and forwards. Everyone has to weigh-in with goals and at the moment it is not happening. We have to keep positive, on the front foot and I'm sure it will change."

Watford manager Walter Mazzarri: "We played well in the first half an hour. We deserved to lead. We had patience on the counter-attack and finally scored, the victory is deserved.

"They defended well, we knew they would defend. We were unlucky, we should have scored at the beginning.

"I am very happy with how the team is playing now, giving me satisfaction. With how they are playing on the pitch, we deserve two or three points more at this stage."

The stats you need to know

• Dawson scored his first Premier League own-goal since December 2006, when playing for Tottenham against Charlton.

• The Hornets are now unbeaten in four top-flight games, their best unbeaten run since December 2015.

• Watford have kept three successive clean sheets for the first time since last December in the Premier League.