Ryoya Morishita scores as Blackburn beat Watford

Ryoya Morishita scored the only goal as Blackburn earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road.

Morishita’s strike early in the second half ensured that manager Valerien Ismael triumphed over his former employers and secured Rovers back-to-back league wins over the Hornets for the first time since 2012.

Watford hustled but came up empty-handed on home turf. A sixth straight game without a clean sheet under new boss Paulo Pezzolano leaves them 17th in the Championship, two places behind the visitors, who needed a result after losing four of their first five matches across all competitions this season.

Blackburn goalkeeper Balazs Toth’s nervous start saw him flap at a looping header after a Watford free-kick was whipped into the box, and he was fortunate to see the ball bounce over the bar with less than three minutes on the clock.

Morishita then clattered the woodwork down the other end with a spectacular long-range effort following a flick-on from fellow Japan international Yuki Ohashi.

Watford were direct and had plenty of the ball but Blackburn again went close in the 24th minute when a low cross from Ryan Alebiosu rolled all the way through to Todd Cantwell, whose powerful effort was tipped over by Egil Selvik.

The hosts rode their luck again shortly before the interval, when Selvik dived on the ball after Cantwell’s brilliant corner delivery sparked a six-yard box scramble.

Two minutes later, Watford finally fashioned a decent chance of their own when Kwadwo Baah’s pull-back was met by Mamadou Doumbia, but the 19-year-old’s left-footed effort lacked composure and went well wide.

There was more sparkling link-up between Rovers’ two Japanese forwards in the 47th minute, although this time the end result finished in a goal.

Ohashi was the provider with a cute flicked pass through a gap in Watford’s back-four and Morishita latched on and finished confidently past Selvik.

The Hornets nearly responded immediately as Max Alleyne crossed in for Luca Kjerrumgaard, but the big striker failed to keep his hooked volley down.

Pezzolano waited until the 54th minute to bring on exciting teenager Nestory Irankunda, and his impact was almost instantaneous as Moussa Sissoko found him with a cut-back, but the youngster made a mess of the strike.

Cantwell nearly doubled Blackburn’s advantage with an acrobatic effort after a floated back-post cross.

And Irankunda had a chance five minutes from time to extend his superb free-kick record from just outside the box, but his attempt clipped the top of the wall.