Jermaine Beckford pounced on a mistake by Manuel Almunia to give Bolton Wanderers a 1-0 victory at Watford this afternoon.

Beckford came close after 12 minutes, but headed wide from Neil Danns's deep cross.

Danns then came close himself with an ambitious overhead kick, while Josh McEachran saw his effort blocked at the other end.

Bolton took the lead in the 27th minute when Almunia saw a cross bobble through his legs and Beckford was left with the simple task of passing the ball into an empty net.

Watford continued to attack, though, and Fernando Forestieri combined well with Daniel Pudil, but the former saw his curling effort drop wide of the far post as Bolton went into the break with a one-goal advantage.

Jonathan Bond, 20, replaced Almunia at the break, but it was Andy Lonergan who had to get low to tip Forestieri's low drive round the post on the hour mark.

A couple of minutes later, Lee Chung-Yong raced clear and sent a lob over the stranded Bond, but his effort was too powerful and dropped over the crossbar.

Andre Mortiz then teed up Danns, who sent a powerful shot towards the far corner which was palmed away by Bond.

Bolton continued to have chances to put the game to bed, as Lee and David Ngog combined to tee up Danns once more, but his shot was deflected onto the roof of the net.