Wilson Isidor made his full Sunderland debut at Vicarage Road after Eliezer Mayenda was ruled out with an injury.
Dan Ballard was also missing from the squad with Chris Mepham continuing at the heart of defence. Mayenda had started every league game so far this season but Isidor was given a chance to impress Regis Le Bris from the start.
Abdoullah Ba was handed his first appearance in a matchday squad since the win over Sheffield Wednesday in August, while Ian Poveda was also back in the squad after a recent thigh complaint. Alan Browne was absent after a recent knee injury, though he is expected to return to the squad in the near future.
Watford took the lead in the first half through Festy Ebosele and could have fallen further behind at various points in the opening 45 with the home side well on top for the majority. After the break, Isidor netted an equaliser for Sunderland after turning home Patrick Roberts’ superb cross to level the scores with 48 minutes played.
With the game heading towards a draw, Dan Neil gave away a penalty, which was scored by Tom Dele-Bashiru, which turned out to be the winner on the day as the Black Cats succumbed to a 2-1 defeat in the Championship away from home.
Here, we take a look at how our chief football writer Phil Smith rated each Sunderland player after the game against Watford on Saturday afternoon:
9. Patrick Roberts
Too deep in the first half to make any meaningful impact on the game but worked hard defensively. Came into it as Sunderland got up the pitch after Watford’s opener and got a really good assist with his right-footed cross. Put in some other good crosses before coming off. 7 | Getty Images
10. Romaine Mundle
Persistent throughout but never quite came off for him in attacking sense, though he drew one decent save from Bond midway through the second half. 5 | Getty Images
11. Wilson Isidor
Played like a genuine centre forward. Held it up well despite being quite isolated in the first half and made some good runs in behind. Then was in the right place to take his goal very well. Hugely encouraging. 8 | Wilson Isidor by Chris Fryatt
