SUNDERLAND conceded a costly late penalty as they lost 2-1 at Watford and missed out on the chance to return to the top of the Championship table.

Goals by Festy Ebosele and a Tom Dele-Bashiru penalty were enough to see off the visitors, for whom Wilson Isidor levelled.

The Hornets gave a home debut to Angelo Ogbonna, with Vakoun Bayo and Edo Kayembe coming in as well, while the visitors gave a full debut to Isidor in place of the injured Eliezer Mayenda.

After a spate of recent games where they conceded in less than five minutes, Watford were able to keep Sunderland at bay in the opening exchanges, although Isidor was wide in the eighth minute from Dennis Cirkin’s cross.

Kayembe forced Anthony Patterson to turn away his curler at full stretch after ten minutes, then two minutes later the goalkeeper kept a close range effort by Ebosele out.

Sunderland offered little in the first half-hour, although Jobe Bellingham failed to properly control his header after a Trai Hume cross in the 27th minute.

Watford deservedly took the lead a minute later, when Ebosele connected first time to a delivery from Yasser Larouci, directing his shot past the stranded Patterson.

Sunderland almost hit back straight away, with Jonathan Bond tipping over a Luke O’Nien effort from a free-kick.

The goal conceded seemed to galvanise the away side, who came close when Isidor shot just wide.

The French forward marked his first Sunderland game with his first goal for the club, three minutes after the restart, when he turned in a Patrick Roberts cross at the near post past Bond.

Watford almost hit back immediately, when Larouci pounced on a misdirected header by his own team-mate in Bayo, but he fired his shot into the side-netting.

Sunderland were the more energetic of the two sides, clearly buoyed by their equaliser, and went in search of their second goal of the afternoon.

A fierce strike by Romaine Mundle had to be directed away from goal by Bond with 18 minutes remaining.

Watford had their part to play in the contest, however, in a game where an additional single goal was likely to settle the tie.

And it was the home side who got the game’s decisive third breakthrough just six minutes of the game remaining, when Kwadwo Baah was upended in the area by O’Nien, allowing Dele-Bashiru to step up and convert from the spot.

Sunderland had four minutes of added time to rescue a point, and despite a succession of corners – and goalkeeper Patterson turning attacker for the set-pieces – they were unable to find another equaliser.