Although they were chasing victory for the final half an hour yesterday, it’s fair to say Watford looked a bit heavy-legged at times.

They went forward, they had the ball in the final third, but there was a lack of spark and very little was created in the closing stages.

Head coach Chris Wilder admitted as much, but pointed out that coming in with only 11 games to go, improving fitness is not something he can easily do.

“We looked lethargic after they scored,” Wilder conceded.

“I’m not going to criticise what’s gone on in the past, but our levels did drop from a conditioning point of view. It’s an area where I can’t really do anything at this particular moment.

“We want to play and be a high-energy team that presses out of possession. We want to run and overload when we are on possession.

“But there’s no magic pill for the next eight games that I can use to get a load of energy into these boys.

“We did look a bit stretched towards the end, and it looked like we weren’t getting up to people in the press. The front two would go and press but we weren’t really following it in behind.

“There were a lot of tired legs and tired minds out there. Is that a reason we made poor decisions late on in the game?

“That is something that is quite difficult to work on with only six weeks left of the season.”

The Watford boss said it was definitely a very good chance of two more points not taken.

“A missed opportunity and a bit of a frustrating afternoon,” was his initial assessment.

“They started brightly but then we got a foothold in the game and for the next 35 minutes we penned them back.

“We got into some great positions and just didn’t show the quality we’ve got. The amount of times we got into positions but the final run, cross or shot wasn’t there.

“They have got fight in them and they were spirited opposition, even with everything else that’s going on at the club.

“But even so, to come in only 1-0 up we were a little bit disappointed.

“As I said, I thought our energy levels dropped off in the second half. We made tactical decisions to go and chase the win, which is something I will always do.

“The game was there to be won and we tried to make positive substitutions, knowing that the game might become stretched and turn into a game of basketball.

“My disappointment from my team’s point of view is that when we got into the final third we tried to be a bit too intricate. We were trying to thread balls through their three centre halves.

“It’s pretty simple: when you’re playing against three centre halves you’ve got to get round the back somehow. Whether it’s an overload or a cross from a deeper position, you’ve got to get the ball into those areas.

“If the three centre halves do spread then you have an opportunity slide the pass in, but they didn’t. They defended with their lives and we were a bit open on the counter.”