The relief and elation at St James’ Park was palpable as Ayoze Perez’s second-half header sealed Newcastle United’s first win of the season against Watford yesterday.

Defeat for the Magpies would have made them the first side ever to lose their first six Premier League home games, but after riding their luck in the first half, they pulled themselves together and got over the line.

Rafael Benitez said the unity of everyone in the stadium fuelled the performance which finally yielded three points.

“It was a pity that after playing well in so many games, we couldn’t win,” he said.

“Today, in a different game against a very good team, you could see everyone was together, the fans and the players were pushing.

“We have tried our best [this season]. We have made mistakes, starting from me, but we are trying and the fans appreciate that.

“Now we can relax a little bit, but hopefully we can play more games like we did today.”

Watford came into the game with their tails up, having won their last two games, and they almost took the lead through captain Adrian Mariappa early on.

A corner wasn’t dealt with and, after a goalmouth scramble which saw DeAndre Yedlin clear off the line, Mariappa could only fire wide of the target.

At the other end, Mohamed Diame stung the palms of Ben Foster from distance, while Kenedy and Matt Ritchie attempted to force the issue.

Whenever Newcastle opened up, Watford were able to hit them on the counter effectively in the first half. Gerard Deulofeu really should have broken the deadlock just before the half-hour mark, but his tame effort drifted wide of Martin Dubravka’s goal.

Isaac Success then tested Dubravka as Watford’s attacking wave continued until the break, before which Yoshinori Muto, Newcastle’s busiest player, was replaced by Perez.