Sometimes it’s just a case of getting the job done in football. That’s exactly what Watford did against Middlesbrough, even though it wasn’t particularly pretty at times.

Sunday’s game was far from a classic between Middlesbrough and Watford at the Riverside Stadium. It’s a game that won’t live long in the memory for both sets of supporters but in the end, the Hornets got the job done.

There’s no better feeling than three points and the result sets us up nicely for our upcoming fixtures against Swansea and Hull, two games Watford should be looking at getting at least four points from.

Jose Holebas’ superb strike from 20 yards proved to be the difference on Sunday and his second goal of the season capped off a remarkable few months for the Greece international.

Towards the end of last season, he looked like he was on his way out of the club, having been rarely used under Quique Sanchez Flores.

The left back made just 13 appearances in all competitions for the Hornets last term and I don’t think any Watford supporter would have blamed him if he decided to leave the club over the summer.

But to his credit, Holebas decided to stick around and he’s really flourished under Walter Mazzarri this season.

Given a run in the side under the Italian, Holebas has made the left wing-back spot his own and he’s been one of our most consistent performers this term I think.

Often seen galloping forward at every opportunity, he’s almost like a left-winger at times and his hammer of a left-foot can cause defences all sorts of problems. The 32-year-old is capable of delivering an excellent cross and he’s also not afraid to have a crack at goal from distance, as we saw at the weekend.

Defensively, he’s reasonably solid and he’s struck up a good relationship with our defenders and midfielders.

I don’t mind the fact that he and Etienne Capoue were having a heated discussion at the end of the game on Sunday, as it shows that they care about the team and our performances. Long may Holebas’ consistent displays continue.

Another pleasing thing for me at the weekend was our defence. At long last we finally managed to keep our first clean sheet of the season and we generally looked solid at the back.

Middlesbrough didn’t cause us too many problem, but our defenders dealt with everything which came their way and we didn’t really look like letting our lead slip. It was the complete opposite to the Bournemouth game, where we looked shaky at the back and the Cherries looked dangerous every time they broke forward.

Sebastian Prodl had a good game I thought, keeping Alvaro Negredo – a man who scored 23 goals in his last spell in England – relatively quiet. Mazzarri’s clearly been working on our defence and hopefully, this will be the first of many clean sheets this season.

Yes, we weren’t at our best on Sunday, but it is a trademark of a good team if you can still win despite not playing brilliantly. 11 points from eight games represents an excellent start I think and I’m very optimistic about what the Golden Boys could achieve this season under Mazzarri.

Bradley Hayden is the founder and sole writer of @WatfordFCBlog