From 3-0 up after just seven minutes to having victory snatched from them in stoppage time, Watford Women were given another painful reminder of just how cruel and unforgiving life in a higher division can be.
Victory would have lifted the Hornets off the foot of the Championship table and sent them into Christmas and the New Year with a boost upon which to build in the second half of the season.
As it was, they ended up drawing 3-3 with London City Lionesses in a game they dominated, so much so in the first half that it looked like being a case of how far Watford would win by.
To not win at all felt like someone had cancelled Christmas.
The start Watford made was simply electric, and that was due in no small part to striker Michelle Ageyemang.
The 17-year-old Arsenal player is on dual registration with the Hornets, but has missed nearly all of the season so far after picking up a knee injury in the game away at London City in early September.
She marked her return with a goal in last week’s 6-1 FA Cup away win at Southampton, and this afternoon she was simply unplayable in the first quarter of an hour.
Only two minutes had gone when Lucia Leon sent Carly Johns away down the right and her cross was converted at the near post by Agyemang.
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It was 2-0 in the fourth minute as another Arsenal loanee, Laila Harbert, played Agyemang through and although her first shot was saved, she calmly rolled in the rebound.
Agyemang’s pace and power was tearing London City to shreds at the back, and in the seventh minute she burst away down the right flank once again. Seeing Johns in the centre she drilled a low cross in her direction and defender Paige Culver tried to block but turned the ball into her own net.
Seven minutes gone, three goals up and Watford looked capable of scoring with every attack.
They continued to pile forward against a clearly shellshocked London City, and really ought to have been out of sight by the half-hour mark.
Leon saw a header saved, Harbert danced her way into the box but saw her shot deflected over the bar, Johns fired wide after being set up by Flo Fyfe, who then overlapped down the left and hit a low shot that forced another save.
Jacqui Goldsmid was called upon to block at close range to deny Maddi Wilde, but Watford went straight down the other end and Coral Haines burst through the defence, checked and curled a shot that keeper Grace Moloney did well to hold.
So it was very much a surprise that the visitors pulled one back five minutes before the break when the ball was cut back for Lois Joel to fire home.
The early exchanges of the second half were pretty similar to the first with Watford looking to seal the points, and they so nearly did when Johns centred for Agyemang to let fly with a shot that was deflected up and over the bar.
The visitors started to enjoy more possession but still they didn’t look likely to salvage anything, although it was less comfortable in the 78th minute as Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah netted from close range after Goldsmid had stopped but couldn’t hold a long-range effort.
Five minutes from time Moloney denied Watford what would have surely been the game-over goal when clawing away a goalbound effort from Ellie Head after she had got on the end of a cross from fellow substitute Abbie Lafayette.
Seven minutes of stoppage time was signalled, and in the first minute of them Watford hearts were broken.
The ball was played to the back of the box from the right and Lucy Fitzgerald bravely got on the end of it, taking a heavy blow in a collision with Goldsmid but managing to prod the ball past the keeper and into the net.
With half the season gone, Watford are five points behind Reading in 10th place, a position they must reach in order to stay in the Championship.
Their goal threat and attacking play today gave hope they can do it – they have scored more goals this season than third-placed Sunderland.
But the 27 they have conceded is the highest in the division and they will have to stop letting them in at least two per game on average if they are to achieve their target of remaining in the Championship.
Watford: Goldsmid; Leon, Meiwald, Johns (Head 76), Agyemang (Baptiste 76), Georgiou, Harbert, Fyfe (Lafayette 68), Haines (McLean 84), Reid, Henson (Bennett 68). Subs not used: Fleming, Rossiter, Chandler, Palisch.
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