Joel Lynch's spectacular clinching goal put the gloss on one of Huddersfield Town’s most satisfying wins of the season.

The former Brighton and Nottingham Forest centre-back returned after six games out through injury to mark his 200th league start by netting with an overhead kick.

His 12th career goal, seventh for Town and third of the season, ensured there was finally no way back for Watford.

Slavisa Jokanovic’s side had cancelled out Nahki Wells’ 52nd-minute opener in the 66th minute, although the equaliser owed as much to Alex Smithies’ fumble as the power of substitute Odion Ighalo’s angled shot.

But Town regained the lead through James Vaughan’s neat 77th-minute finish from Wells’ pass.

And Lynch, who had been out with a groin problem, struck in the 83rd to sealed successive Championship wins after the defeat of Bolton Wanderers.

Chris Powell’s side, now 15th in the table, have taken seven points from the last nine.

It should really have been a maximum haul, but two goals were conceded in the closing stages at Rotherham United.

This time, even though there were six minutes added on, there was to be no repeat of that Boxing Day setback.

Town mixed graft, guile and guts to secure an eighth win of the campaign.

And now, as the manager acknowledged, the challenge is to transfer home form to away matches.

Town go to Middlesbrough and Wigan Athletic on successive Saturdays.

And how will the table look ahead of the big derby against Leeds United at the John Smith’s Stadium on January 31?

Consistency has to be the key if Powell’s team are to push into the top half of the table and better last season’s 17th-placed finish.

At the moment, the talk of the Town is all about which striker Powell might or might not sign this month.

But the Watford game showed he already has two penalty-area predators on the books.

Wells and Vaughan posed the visitors problems throughout, and it was great to see both their names on the scoresheet.

Sean Scannell was another to test Jokanovic’s team, who had won their previous three away league games.

And midfielders Jacob Butterfield, Conor Coady and Oscar Gobern, in for the suspended former Watford player Jonathan Hogg, all made big contributions.

Lynch, who replaced the injured Murray Wallace (like the Scot, Harry Bunn was also ruled out by a hamstring issue as Powell made four changes in all following the FA Cup defeat by Reading) also played his part at the back alongside skipper Mark Hudson and Tommy Smith.

And on-loan left wing-back Jack Robinson helped quell the threat of Troy Deeney, Matej Vydra, Almen Abdi and the rest of Watford’s multi-national force as well as supply a threat going forward.

Smithies was inevitably under the spotlight because of Ighalo’s equaliser.

But he also made a fine first-half save to thwart combative Italian Gianni Munari as he thumped in a volley which looked destined for the net.

Town’s response to the blow of giving away such a soft equaliser was one of the most pleasing aspects of an excellent win over a talented team.

They stuck firmly to their gameplan, and Gobern had a header hacked off the line by Deeney before Vaughan restored the lead with his second goal since returning from a torn calf.

Wells’ strike was his 11th of the season, and rewarded a bright and busy performance as the Bermudian marked the first anniversary of his Town record £1.3m move from Bradford City.