Tottenham Hotspur did just enough to win at Vicarage Road last night, but considering that they have spent a large portion of the season doing far too little, a modest performance against inferior opponents will suffice, especially when it puts them only a two-leg tie from Wembley.

For a man widely suspected last summer to have no future at the club, Darren Bent is playing a huge part in shaping Tottenham’s destiny. He came off the bench to score his twelfth goal of the campaign and send the holders through to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

It was a busy 25-minute cameo from the striker: avoiding extra time is a strong incentive, especially when there is a risk of frostbite. “It was more about not staying out for another half an hour in the freezing cold,” Bent said. He could joke about the chilly weather afterwards, but he had been frozen out by his manager, who named the forward as a substitute against Watford because he felt that the 24-year-old had grown sloppy.

“In the past couple of weeks I don’t think he’s been as sharp as he was so I left him out,” Harry Redknapp said. “I felt he took his foot off the pedal. I said to him before the game, ‘Do your stuff for us again.’ So it was good to see him score.”

It did not do Juande Ramos much good, but winning a trophy a little more than three months after taking charge of Tottenham would be an eye-catching feather in the Redknapp cap. Especially after lifting the FA Cup with Portsmouth last May, he is less likely than most leading managers to downplay the allure of the domestic knockout competitions.

Redknapp does not deviate from managerial orthodoxy in placing the league first. “Tottenham got to the final last year and couldn’t win a league game. We’ve got to make sure we know where our priorities are,” he said. Still, this cup is a siren call worth heeding. “We’re trying to go all the way now. I’d put this second in line [after the league] because we’ve got a chance,” he said. No prizes for guessing that Redknapp wants to avoid Manchester United in Saturday’s draw: “Sir Alex [Ferguson] won’t be putting his youth team out. He’ll want to win it, that’s for sure.”

Redknapp made only four changes from the team who lost to Everton on Sunday. Yet Tottenham began with little enthusiasm. After 12 minutes, Jon Harley won possession down the left and fed Tommy Smith, whose low diagonal pull-back was collected by Tamas Priskin near the penalty spot. He swivelled and scored.

It was just reward for the home side’s greater endeavour in the early stages, while Tottenham malfunctioned, all overhit passes and undercooked challenges. Their players struggled for footing as if running on ice, which, given the temperature, they possibly were. But they did thaw out to put Watford under persistent pressure.

Two minutes before the break, Leigh Bromby’s slip set Roman Pavlyuchenko through on goal, but the Russia striker hit the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box. In the technical area, Redknapp’s body language betrayed his desire for victory. He whirled his hands, scattering sparks of fury like a catherine wheel.

Not to worry. In the second minute of injury time, Pavlyuchenko proved himself more accurate from 12 yards than six, narrowly beating Scott Loach from the penalty spot after Ross Jenkins had felled Jermaine Jenas with an innocuous but mistimed tackle.

Forget the canard about just before the break being a bad time to concede — it evidently served to reinvigorate Watford. The second half began like the first, with Watford’s breathless, boisterous approach shoving the visiting team back.

However, Tottenham remained the likelier side to score and a goalkeeping mistake inside the final 15 minutes settled the tie. The ball broke to Bent out wide and his shot, firm but eminently saveable, beat the otherwise impressive Loach at his near post when the 20-year-old misjudged his dive.

Not that Watford’s desire came as a surprise considering the stakes and the context: they do, after all, have a new manager to impress. This was only Brendan Rodgers’s second match in charge after he left his job as Chelsea’s reserve team manager to replace Adrian Boothroyd. “It feels like I’ve been here a year,” Rodgers said. There is boardroom upheaval after the resignation of the chairman, Graham Simpson, on Monday, and the club are near the foot of the Coca-Cola Championship. “The players are a terrific bunch and they’ve given me great hope,” Rodgers said.

In spells, this was a Watford display similar to those that took them to the top flight under Boothroyd: direct and muscular. Rodgers wants to introduce a prettier style, even though he said yesterday that it may take time and require new blood.

Rodgers has absorbed much from working under José Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, but he could do worse than learn this from Redknapp: a club’s atmosphere can be overhauled with astonishing speed.

Watford (4-4-1-1): S Loach — A Mariappa, L Bromby, J DeMerit (sub: L Doyley, 58min), J Harley — L Williamson, R Jenkins (sub: J O’Toole, 78), L Bridcutt, J McAnuff (sub: W Hoskins, 83) — T Smith — T Priskin. Substitutes not used: R Lee, T Robinson, A Bangura, L Henderson. Booked: McAnuff, Priskin.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): H Gomes — V Corluka, M Dawson, J Woodgate, B Assou-Ekotto — A Lennon, J Jenas, D Zokora, J O’Hara — R Pavlyuchenko, F Campbell (sub: D Bent, 65). Substitutes not used: C Sánchez, G Bale, D Bentley, T Huddlestone, C Gunter, K-P Boateng. Booked: Assou-Ekotto.

Referee: P Dowd.

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