Watford lifted the pressure on head coach Alessio Dionisi and quelled their supporters' rebellion against owner Gino Pozzo with a deserved 2-0 win against sluggish Charlton.
After shipping nine goals in calamitous defeats by Burnley and Cardiff, Dionisi's side had slumped into the bottom three and the fans had turned their anger on Pozzo.
But goals from Luca Kjerrumgaard and substitute Jordan Zemura - the Zimbabwe defender's first for the club - extended Charlton's worrying run to eight games without a win as the Addicks were booed off at Vicarage Road.
Watford, on the other hand, kept their first clean sheet in 210 days with only their second win in three months.
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Despite the mood of insurrection swirling around Pozzo on social media, protests against his 14-year ownership outside the ground before kick-off were limited.
In the stands, the atmosphere was entirely supportive as Watford made a bright start, Senegal World Cup star Krepin Diatta extending Charlton goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo after a quarter of an hour.
The Addicks should already have been ahead by then after the unmarked Miles Leaburn headed Ivan Mesik's cross wide from six yards.
But Watford, lively and assertive despite six defeats in their previous seven games, made most of the running as Myron Boadu fired wide from the edge of the box before the same player was thwarted by Billy Koumetio's superb last-ditch tackle.
At the other end, Koumetio was narrowly off target with a first-time effort from a half-cleared corner as Charlton finished the first half strongly, but the Hornets were soon back on the front foot after the break.
Boadu, played clean through by Kjerrumgaard's chested pass, rolled his finish wastefully wide of Okonkwo's right-hand post but in the 58th minute Watford were in front.
Edo Kayembe's shot from the edge of the box was only parried by Okonkwo and Kjerrumgaard devoured the rebound from close range, only his second goal of the season.
If Okonkwo was at fault for the goal, he fared better when he tipped Kayembe's low, fizzing rocket round a post before the DR Congo international fired over from a favourable angle.
Only with time running out did Charlton sustain any pressure on Watford's goal, with Addicks sub Charlie Kelman's prodded effort cleared off the line by Mamadou Doumbia.
But on the break Watford spurned a succession of chances as Martin Payero's near-post header was brilliantly parried by Okwonko, Doumbia should have done better than a weak finish and Payero bent a 25-yarder just wide.
Finally, four minutes into stoppage time, two substitutes combined to make the points safe, Zemura dinking an exquisite finish over the advancing Okwonko from Rocco Vata's pass.
The managers
Watford's Alessio Dionisi:
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Charlton's Nathan Jones:
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