Watford Women would not be lining up for the Championship Play-Off Final on Saturday had they not won their last home game of the season against Oxford United.

And as they were 1-0 down at half-time at Vicarage Road in that game, they would not have gone on to win had Annie Rossiter not played the pass of her career so far to release Bianca Baptiste for the equaliser.

As the ball came across her body from left to right she turned and sent an arcing dipping 30-yard ball, beyond the Oxford defence and perfectly into Baptiste's stride in one smooth but gifted movement.

At first glance on the night, it looked like the England Under-18 international had just hit a hopeful pass towards the right flank.

But ask her, and she’ll tell you otherwise!

“I had a lot of banter with the girls about that, because they said ‘you just hit it’ but if you watch it back on the video, I did actually look,” she laughed.

“I remember thinking when the ball came to me ‘why not, we’re 1-0 down’.

“Bianca is rapid, I know that, she’s been doing it all season. So I thought it was worth trying, and I probably couldn’t play that exact same ball again.

“When Bianca hit the shot early I was like ‘no, not that early’. But then it went top bins!”

In front of more than 1,000 fans on a rainy night at Vicarage Road, Watford showed the character and determination that has been the hallmark of their title-winning season to come back from 1-0 down to beat Oxford 2-1.

“It was a result that we had worked really hard for, and one that on the night we totally deserved too,” said Rossiter.

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“We’ve put in so much work this season, and I felt like so many people wrote us off.

“The first half of that game against Oxford wasn’t the best, but we showed our class in the second half and ultimately got the result.”

That wasn’t the final hurdle to clear before booking a place in the play-off final though.

Watford went into the lasty day of the season in second place, knowing they had to win their away game at Billericay and hope leaders Oxford dropped points at Ipswich.

It would have been easy to be distracted but the 21-year-old used her own mental strength – and the orders of head coach Damon Lathrope – to ensure she was fully focussed on beating Billericay.

“On that day, I just put all the thoughts sort of in a box in my head, and put that all to one side,” she said.

“The manager had said no phones on the sidelines, so we were just totally focused on our game.

“He said that if we did our bit then the rest would take care of itself, and he was right.”

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Watford won 3-0, Oxford lost 1-0 and the Golden Girls were champions.

However, the idiosyncrasies of the way the women’s game is structured means that Watford (champions of the Southern Premier Division) have to play Northern Division winners Nottingham Forest in a winner-takes-all play-off for the solitary promotion spot to the Championship.

That game takes place at Stadium MK on Saturday (1pm), and will be a re-run of the recent League Cup Final, which Forest won 3-2 in extra-time.

However, while they lost the final, Watford know plenty about the team that stands between them and promotion.

“They will give us a tough test,” said Rossiter.

“We know they are a good team, and we’ll be as well prepared as we always are.

“We know what happened last time, but come Saturday hopefully we’ll turn that around and get a good result.

“The surface at Stadium MK will definite make for a better occasion. We played on that pitch earlier in the season and gave a very good performance.

“The main thing is we’ve trained hard, we’ll be really well prepared and we will be very up for it.”

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The former Millwall and London City player has been a mainstay of the Watford team this season, scoring six goals in 21 league appearances.

She knows, though, that Saturday is the most important of the lot.

“Potentially it’s the biggest game in my career, and certainly one of the biggest in Watford Women’s history, that’s for sure,” Rossiter said.

“It could be a great moment for the club, and it’ll be unreal to get promoted and be back in the Championship.”

Tickets for the play-off final at Stadium MK on Saturday (1pm) are £5 for adults, £2.50 for Under-16s and Over-65s, and free for Under-10's. You can purchase them by clicking here.