Watford Head Coach Slaven Bilić was delighted to earn a late 1-0 victory against Norwich City, praising his side’s resilience and spirit to secure three important points.

Striker Vakoun Bayo scored the winner late on, tapping home Ismaïla Sarr’s square pass to send the travelling supporters into raptures at Carrow Road. However, during the contest Keinan Davis, Christian Kabasele and Samuel Kalu were all substituted after picking up unfortunate injuries.

Bilič was impressed with the fight and character on display from his squad, who currently have 14 players sidelined, and the Croatian believes it was the perfect response to the defeat against Swansea City last time out.

“I have to praise the players, because with the quality that we are missing and the quality that we have on the pitch, they did fantastic,” Bilić began.

“It was full of spirit. We are at the maximum we can be, even over that, and that’s why we paid with injuries. A big chapeau to the guys.

“With injuries like Davis’ one, he has to do more on the ball than when we are at full strength. He has to run with the ball 60 yards with a man on his back. It’s not easy, and the same with Kabasele, so we paid the price again.

“It’s a great response [to the Swansea City match], and we showed great spirit in an extremely difficult situation which I have never faced so far in my career as a manager or as a player.

“We are missing so many important players, some of them are top players. To come here and show that resilience and the quality on the counter-attack – a big chapeau to the guys.

“We weren't dying for each other in Swansea. We were fighting, but not dying for each other. This situation requires that you are ready to die for each other, because we can’t rely only on quality. That’s what we showed today, and we needed to show it.”

As a result of the current injury problems facing his squad, Bilić was forced to slot players into unfamiliar roles, including full-back Mario Gaspar who enjoyed a shift in central midfield.

In addition, 21-year-old James Morris made his full league debut for the club at left-back, with the youngster earning special praise from the Head Coach.

“I don’t like to moan or talk about it, not even yesterday or now, but it is extremely difficult,” Bilić said.

“Mario Gaspar played in midfield with [Leandro] Bacuna. Bacuna joined the team two weeks ago, because we were lacking the players and he didn’t have a contract. Gaspar played as a holding midfielder and had a fantastic game today, but he is not a holding midfielder.

“The good thing about experienced players like them is that you explain things to them once and they understand what you want. They were vital in our performance today, they were like anchors for us. Second balls and everything. When we had time to distribute, they helped protect the back.

“Then we played with James Morris at left-back, who did an extremely good job. I want to single him out because it was his first league start for the club. He is from the Academy and he is one of our boys. It’s an unbelievable situation that we are facing.

“Can you imagine how Morris feels now? Ninety minutes against Norwich City away, three points and a good performance.”

The Watford boss was also extremely grateful to the 1,886 travelling supporters who made the journey to Norfolk. He felt they helped guide the team to a characterful performance.

Bilić added: “I don’t like clichés, but we could hear the fans and we were surprised at how many of them were there. We heard them today.

“We showed today that even when the situation is impossible, it’s still possible. The only way you will get something is if you give the maximum and you are positive, otherwise you have no chance. That’s what happened today.

“Sometimes the manager says a game is more than three points. This game was like that. It might have only been three points on the table, but it’s much more than that.”