Watford finally found a way through the meanest defence in the Championship to beat Stoke 1-0 with Luca Kjerrumgaard's second-half goal.
The Danish striker was on target in the 74th minute to stretch the Hornets' unbeaten home run to nine matches, and they have lost just once in their last 10 home and away.
But it was another blow to Stole's hopes of breaking into the top six.
Both managers made changes galore, with Watford's Javi Gracia restoring Jeremy Ngakia, Tom Ince and Georgi Chakvetadze to the side and Stoke chief Mark Robins bringing in Maksym Talovierov, Bosun Lawal, Steven Nzonzi and Aaron Cresswell.
Watford were first to threaten when former Stoke man Ince, who was roundly booed by away fans, found Otthmane Maamma with a sweeping cross-field pass from the right.
Morocco under-20 international Maamma closed in on goal from the left flank only to see his fierce right-foot shot held by City keeper Viktor Johansson.
Watford's response was immediate, with Stoke's defenders relieved to see Kjerrumgaard's attempted overhead kick from Imran Louza's right-wing corner sail over the bar.
Watford were cranking up the pressure, and skipper Louza had the opposition worried again on the half-hour with a left-footed shot from outside the box that fizzed just wide of Johansson's left-hand post.
Robins' signals from the dugout made it clear he was unhappy with his team's efforts, but they made it to half-time with the score still goalless.
The Stoke boss clearly needed to add some edge, and he sent on former Blackburn striker Sam Gallagher straight after the break in place of Robert Bozenik.
That fired up the rest of the team, and in the opening seconds of the second half, Wales winger Sorba Thomas saw a goalbound shot deflected to safety by the home defence.
Gallagher's introduction appeared to have paid off in the 58th minute when Talovierov's diagonal ball in from the left was headed in by the sub.
But the assistant flagged for offside - and Thomas saw yellow for his protests.
Then Johansson saved Stoke twice. First, he dropped to his right to push away Ince's low shot, then he conceded another corner, as he was forced to tip Kjerrumgaard's rocket shot over the bar.
Thomas was back with another attempt on goal for Stoke before Watford finally made the breakthrough.
Louza's free-kick from wide on the left was headed across the box by Hector Kyprianou and Kjerrumgaard met it at the far post to fire home right-footed.
Stoke wobbled again in added time when sub Tatsuki Seko cleared Vivaldo Semedo's shot off the line but one was enough for Watford.
Watford's Javi Gracia:
"We knew before he game that Stoke were playing well, not getting good results but competing really well.
"They also have quality in attack, so the clean sheet was important. In previous games, we have been conceding one or two goals and it is very difficult to get three points when we're conceding.
"If we want to compete with the best teams, we need to be more solid. You can't concede one or two goals. It's impossible for us to score two or three goals in every game.
"Today, I'm proud because the players followed the plan. They were in the right positions to defend well and be solid. After half-time, we kept believing a win was possible. We got the points, and I'm really proud. All the players showed the right attitude and discipline."
Stoke's Mark Robins:
"There are a lot of good things happening in games, but clearly we're missing that clinical last touch.
"That's the frustration that everybody is feeling. But it's where we're at. I can't keep applying pressure to the players because they're giving me everything they've got.
"You can only give as much as you've got. If they are giving me 100 per cent there is no such thing as 101 per cent.
"We're all wanting more but you can't always have more. It's really difficult for me to come out and say it.
"I want to score more goals and see more goalmouth action but this is as good as we can get at the moment - and by the way some of it is really good."
