Not being ruthless and the failure to stay calm ultimately condemned Watford to a defeat against Ipswich that Valerien Ismael admitted was hard to take.

The Hornets had 12 goal attempts but only three of them were on target, and too often passes were misplaced in the final third, as well generally in some of their build-up play.

“We are really disappointed to lose a game like that, especially in the way it ended,” said the Watford boss.

“Otherwise I think that was another tough game, three days after Southampton, but I think we showed again we are ready to compete and show our level.

“The mentality of the players, their structure, the discipline, were good.”

Ismael admitted some of the errors that blighted performances much earlier in the season crept back into the performance.

“In the first half I thought the main issue was our unenforced mistakes in our build-up, we gave the ball away without much pressure,” he said.

“You need to have more control, and I thought towards the end of the first half we got that and it was easier for us to force Ipswich to drop back.

“The second half was played on the front foot by both teams, and it was a 50/50 game. A typical top game where the first mistake will be punished.

“We had two chances to take the lead with Jamal Lewis and Edo Kayembe, and you have to take one of them.

“It was like I said after the game with Southampton, we have top work on our ruthlessness in front of goal. We have to get shots on target and make sure we get the rewards.

“If you take the lead at 1-1 then it becomes another game with a different situation.”

While Watford have become adept at scoring very late goals at Vicarage Road, they didn’t seem able to trouble Ipswich after Wes Hoedt’s error had let them in for the winning goal.

“After the mistake we made at the end we found it difficult to come back into the game. It shocked us rather than giving us the feeling we could come back,” said the Watford boss.

“But it’s part of the learning process. It’s the fine details that we have to work on.

“When you stay in a game like that, a game that is very 50/50, we know we can score at any time. So we need to stay more calm, retain belief and force the opponent to defend more.

“It was a good game though, from both teams. Ipswich are the flavour of the month right now and they played well tonight, but we created a lot of chances. However, the final shot or pass was not on target.

“We created more chances than on Saturday, but our play was too hectic at times, and that stopped us making sure we scored.”