Quique Sanchez Flores described the manner of Watford’s dramatic come-from-behind victory against Aston Villa as “emotional” after Troy Deeney’s late brace secured a 3-2 win.

With the head coach’s Vicarage Road future very much in the spotlight, his prospects looked set to be dealt another blow heading into the closing stages after Ciaran Clark and Jordan Ayew had scored either side of Almen Abdi’s free-kick.

But the Hornets dragged the game out of the fire in the final minutes as Deeney headed in a fine Steven Berghuis cross before firing home in injury time after Odion Ighalo had laid back Mario Suarez’s ball into the area.

“It’s important because mathematically we are [safe] in the Premier League and the way we did it is emotional because in the last moment we are always looking for more,” Flores said. “We tried to put out an offensive team, we tried to have control of the match but we conceded two silly goals and we had to work really hard.”

Villa were reduced to ten men for the final 15 minutes when Aly Cissokho was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity after bringing down Ikechi Anya and Flores said: “In a match of 11 against ten, it’s very clear. We need to keep the strikers in the box and put the balls in, in the last 15 minutes. We had 65 per cent of the possession, we shoot much more than Aston Villa but we need to fight a lot and we have to try to remove these goals we concede. When we were playing well, we had the control but when the opponent scores before us there needs to be a reaction and things change a lot with these kind of actions.”

Given Villa’s dismal form this season, it was no surprise there was some discontent from the home faithful when their side were losing and looked to be heading for defeat. But Flores was pleased with the support his side got and felt the fans would have “enjoyed” the first half.

He said: “I think they supported the team really well. I think they enjoyed the first half a lot. They don’t understand how we conceded this goal but they enjoyed it because we had the ball and we played well, the players were moving positions and being flexible so at half-time I feel they are really happy.

“In the second half the second goal was weak and we were disorganised a lot, it’s true, and we needed time to react with the ball and with the organisation. But in the last 20 minutes I think we played well.”