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Vardy came off the bench to lift a Leicester side that had been struggling to break down Watford, which had been heading for a point after a stubborn display.

But it did not look like being Vardy’s day as he sent one opportunity over the bar, before missing again from four yards.

Vardy refused to let the misses get to him, though, and he opened the scoring just two minutes later after Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann had parried Jannick Vestergaard’s header.

In the third minute of stoppage-time, Vardy sealed the points when he was brought down in the penalty area by Bachmann, who was shown a second yellow card and dismissed by referee Sam Allison.

Defender Ryan Porteus had to go in goal and he could do nothing to prevent Vardy converting the spot-kick as he found the net for the first time since early October.

“You can miss, miss, miss, but in the end, you want to find a goal,” Maresca, who saw his side win for the first time in three games, said.

“Jamie’s scored goals all his life and he will continue to do that. It’s in his blood.

“This is the reason why he’s Jamie Vardy. He’s scored more than 100 goals in the Premier League.

“You have to be there, to miss a chance and he was there again to score. That was the most important thing.

“The best thing for me, as a manager, is to take Jamie as an example – the way he behaved and showed he’s a leader and how he wants to win games.

“But when I saw Jamie missing twice, I thought it was a game we were not going to win.

“You expect missed chances from all of the players in the squad apart from Jamie.”

Leicester had 23 shots on goal compared to one on target from Watford.

“This is a journey that started less than five months ago,” Maresca added. “Thinking in that time that everything is working well, it’s not the reality.

“But I was very happy to be honest, especially after two defeats and seeing how difficult it is to win games.”

Watford came into the game unbeaten in six matches and on the back of a 5-0 win over Rotherham United.

But the Hornets rarely troubled Leicester, although they had a chance to equalise late in the game when Porteous tested goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

Manager Valerien Ismael said that he felt Vardy was lucky to still be on the field before scoring his second goal.

Ismael pointed out that Vardy had already been booked for kicking the ball away when he went in strongly on Watford’s Wesley Hoedt.

But referee Allison did not show Vardy a second yellow card.

Ismael also admitted Bachmann’s dismissal could have been avoided as his first yellow was unnecessary.

The goalkeeper ran 50 yards to dispute Vardy’s challenge on Hoedt and was booked.

“I spoke with Dan. I said to him that the first yellow card can be avoided,” Ismael said.

“We had a meeting before the game and when you have a captain who is a goalkeeper we nominate an outfield player to speak to the referee in certain situations.

“But if our goalkeeper runs 50 yards to talk to the referee, then you are in danger of getting a yellow card.”

Ismael criticised the decision not to book Vardy for a second time.

Asked if Vardy was lucky to stay on the pitch, the Hornets coach said: “Yes, very lucky.

“It’s a clear foul on Hoedt. Just after, it’s exactly the same, but a yellow card for our player. It was a strange decision.

“But we needed to be more ruthless in the game.”