Watford moved from seventh to fourth in the Championship table after Vakoun Bayo’s second-half goal earned them a 1-0 victory at home to Oxford.

Tom Cleverley’s hosts moved above Burnley, West Brom and Millwall thanks to a 54th-minute strike from the Ivory Coast forward, who had scored four times at Sheffield Wednesday last weekend but only once before that this term.

Greg Leigh fired the game’s first shot over the Watford bar before play was stopped at the other end following Kwadwo Baah’s challenge on Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming, who required treatment.

The game was halted again not long after when Watford’s Mattie Pollock was hurt. The defender, who signed a contract extension earlier in the day committing him to the club until 2029, was also able to continue.

Oxford appealed for penalty when Ruben Rodrigues went down with James Morris having had a grip on his opponent’s shirt, but referee Anthony Backhouse was unmoved.

Tyler Goodrham saw a speculative Oxford effort bounce wide before Bayo poked Watford’s first clear chance over. A flag went up for offside anyway – wrongly, replays showed.

Ryan Porteous was booked for tripping Goodrham as Dane Scarlett sought to send him clear, and the hosts were relieved when Peter Kioso fired across goal and wide after a quick one-two had opened up the Watford defence.

Cumming almost gifted the Hornets an opener when his attempt to play out from the back was intercepted by Edo Kayembe but the goalkeeper was able to rush out and clear in time.

Oxford required Ciaron Brown to head off the line in first-half stoppage time and prevent Giorgi Chakvetadze’s corner from going straight in, as the opening period ended goalless.

Kioso did just enough to put Festy Ebosele off in mid-shot early in the second period but a misplaced pass from Scarlett allowed Watford to break the deadlock nine minutes after the interval.

Ryan Andrews’ interception reached Baah just inside his own half and the winger out-paced Brown down the right flank before squaring for Bayo. Cumming parried his first attempt but the striker despatched the rebound.

Oxford should have levelled in the 71st minute when Porteous headed an attempted clearance straight at team-mate Pollock. The ricochet fell perfectly for Hidde ter Avest, who had just come on for Kioso, but the Dutchman could not beat goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann from inside the six-yard box.

Bachmann also denied another Oxford substitute, Mark Harris, after Cumming had stuck out a leg at the other end to prevent Bayo doubling Watford’s lead.

Harris was handed an even better chance late on but sent an overhead kick over the bar after Watford failed to clear a free-kick.

The managers

Watford’s Tom Cleverley:

“I thought the second half performance was really good until the last five minutes. We didn’t manage the game as well as we could do and a few decisions went against us so they could get the ball in our box. But for the first 35 minutes of the second half we were fantastic and unlucky not to make it 2-0 or 3-0. Understandably flat performance in the first half, probably from both teams with it being such a demanding week.

“If we can reproduce our home performances away and our second half performances in the first, we could be in business.”

Oxford’s Des Buckingham:

“Extremely proud but extremely frustrated at the same time. A third game in six days, missing a lot of bodies but the way we’ve applied ourselves at a very good Watford side, I’m frustrated we haven’t come away with something from the game. We’ve created enough, we just haven’t taken them. Watford have countered on us and taken theirs. If we play like that and apply ourselves that way, we’ll be fine.”