All season long, Valerien Ismael has talked about the need for strong mentality and to play with confidence.

As the Hornets have built their current run of one defeat in 10 games, both those traits have been evident. But which comes first – the mentality or the confidence?

“I think you build confidence upon your mentality. In your daily work in training, in the work in games, you start to get rewards,” said the Watford boss.

“When you get those rewards, that builds your confidence.

“The game against Norwich was a turning point in the mindset of the players. We kept calm in a bad situation, came back into the game and we won.

“I have said before, we can score from the very first minute to the very last minute, and that is true.

“If you keep believing that in your mind, and you see in the game today it was only 1-0 and we just said ‘stay in the game, stay in the game’.

“We waited for the next chance and as you do that you create that belief within the squad. Today was another example.”

The head coach said that he was surprised that, at 1-0 up, Southampton seemed very keen to try any method possible to run the clock down.

“Yes, because a 1-0 lead is always dangerous,” he said.

“I think that with the new rules in the league this season, with the multi-ball and the time added on at the end, this was the perfect example of why we try to kill the team who wants to waste time.

“As long as the referee doesn’t whistle then it is game on.

“We had the mentality and the confidence right to the end, and physically we are really strong and able to push for 90 minutes.”

It was, ironically, in the additional minutes accrued due to Southampton’s attempts at ‘game management’, that Watford got their equaliser, scored and assisted by two of the substitutes.

“I’m pleased that the players who came onto the pitch had an impact,” said Ismael.

“We know when we make a change why we are doing it, and we use the flexibility we have.

“In the last five minutes we were more direct and wanted to put the opponent under pressure and force them to defend.”