“That win was especially for the fans”. That was Quique Sanchez Flores’ reaction after Watford’s long wait for a first Premier League victory of the season finally ended tonight with a 2-0 victory over Norwich City.

Goals from Gerard Deulofeu and Andre Gray put the Hornets in control, but they had to negotiate an awkward last quarter of the match after Christian Kabasele was sent off before they could finally celebrate moving off the basement of the table.

The Hornets head coach felt the victory lifted the pressure “for everyone” and continued: “It’s difficult to try to prepare for matches in a good way, put in all the spirit, all the work, for everyone – the owners, the CEO, the players, the fans – and it’s really bad when you don’t win it’s really heavy.

“It doesn’t have any sense to be in sport with this feeling. But when we accept the challenge to come here we know that was a possibility.

“I would like to say this win is especially for the fans because they repeat my name and the name of the players. They are always there. They support and support and support since a long time ago, so it was necessary for everyone.”

Sanchez Flores put his players under further pressure in the build-up by likening tonight’s match to a cup final. He said: “We knew this was a significant match and it looks like a final. We tried to give our energy, our spirit, tried to put the soul and the mind on the pitch knowing that they (Norwich) need to win, also like us, they are playing home and they have a lot of supporters. It’s a noisy stadium and they try to make things difficult for the opponent, but it was our time to show something else and to get a step up was important.”

Asked if he felt it was one of his best results in English football, Sanchez Flores responded: “I’m not sure if it’s the best, but it’s a more necessary win for everyone because of all us are training and trying hard but you need to believe. And for believing you need to win. If you don’t win in sport it’s difficult to believe. To try to win you first need to fight and you need to want and when you can put all these kind of things on the pitch, probably you have more possibilities to win.

“I hope this can help the players to realise they are much better. All the things that we repeat for them every single week, they are much better, they can fight more and they can do more and finally they realise when they are able to win.”