Alessio Dionisi never doubted Watford players after welcome win over Charlton

Watford head coach Alessio Dionisi promised to celebrate with a glass of red wine after a deserved 2-0 win against sluggish Charlton lifted the gloom at Vicarage Road.

Despite a mood of insurrection on social media, there was little trace of rebellion against owner Gino Pozzo as the Hornets’ second win in 11 games lifted them out of the bottom three following a turbulent week.

Dionisi said: “I’m very happy because it was not easy this week for everyone at the club. We lost two matches after the international break, but we believe in this team and we stayed together.

“My team is not yet strong enough for the Championship but it’s possible to improve. Today is a good day for everyone, for our supporters, and the result was right.

“The mentality didn’t change – I know my team and I believe in my team. After we went 1-0 up, it was so-so for a time but we still created a lot of positive situations to score.

“I have been a coach for 14 years and I know when my team stays near my idea. This result is important and tonight I will drink a glass of red wine.”

Dionisi changed shape, picking three centre-backs, and Charlton made little headway apart from Miles Leaburn heading an early chance wide and substitute Charlie Kelman’s prodded effort cleared off the line by Mamadou Doumbia.

He added: “We needed to be more aggressive in the middle. Sometimes it’s impossible to arrive at a good result if there’s no clean sheet and to arrive at the best situation and be aggressive it was better to play another centre-back.”

As well as easing the heat on Dionisi, Watford’s convincing win quelled their supporters’ rebellion against Pozzo.

After shipping nine goals in calamitous defeats by Burnley and Cardiff, Dionisi’s side had slumped into the drop zone and the fans had turned their anger on Pozzo.

But goals from Luca Kjerrumgaard and substitute Jordan Zemura – the Zimbabwe defender’s first for the club – extended Charlton’s worrying run to eight games without a win and the Addicks were booed off at Vicarage Road.

A first league clean sheet in 210 days was a bonus, and despite the mood of insurrection swirling around Pozzo on social media, protests against his 14-year ownership outside the ground before kick-off were negligible.

Kjerrumgaard pounced after 58 minutes when Charlton goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo spilled Edo Kayembe’s shot and Zemura supplied a delicious dinked finish from fellow sub Rocco Vata’s pass in the fourth minute of added time to make the points safe.

Charlton boss Nathan Jones, whose side were booed off by travelling fans, accused his players of being “a mile off it” and criticised Leaburn for wasting their best chances.

Jones scowled: “You can’t say he hasn’t had chances. I’ve had teams with centre-forwards six feet six or six feet seven tall, and when you put the ball in the box it should be Goodnight Irene.

“We put balls in the box and he’s got to learn, but we were a mile off. We had seven or eight players who came out of it without any real credit. We didn’t do anything well enough.

“We were all over the place. We didn’t pass the ball well enough and we didn’t defend well enough. It was important we scored first because of the predicament Watford have been in. The first goal was catastrophic from our point of view, but they will hurt you if you don’t do the basics well.”