LONDON (Reuters) – SWANSEA CITY 1 WATFORD 0

Swansea beat Watford, Swansea City climbed out of the relegation zone after a first-half header by captain Ashley Williams gave them a 1-0 win over Watford on Monday just hours after they named Francesco Guidolin as their new head coach.

The 60-year old, appointed until the end of the season to work alongside caretaker manager Alan Curtis, watched from the terraces as Swansea leapfrogged Newcastle into 17th position on 22 points from as many games, one more than the Magpies.

Watford stayed 12th on 29 points, having suffered a fourth successive defeat after a bright spell in December, when striker Odian Ighalo was named the Premier League’s player of the month and coach Quique Sanchez Flores bagging the managerial award.

Reeling after winning just one of their last 11 games, Swansea produced a gritty performance and were rewarded with a 27th-minute winner, when Williams rose above his markers to head home a Ki Sung-Yueng cross from the right.

Watford were more purposeful after the break but failed to create a single clear-cut chance at Liberty Stadium and were lucky not to concede a second when substitute Bafetimbi Gomis rattled the post in stoppage time.

(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic, editing by Pritha Sarkar)