How much longer can this go on for?

If you don’t keep your own punters onside then you are piling pressure on yourself, and this 1-1 draw with Swansea made it eight home league games without a win.

That is lamentable. It’s the home form of a relegation contender and, were it not for Watford’s earlier burst of good results on the road, then it most probably would be.

And let’s face facts – this point only makes a proper relegation scrap only marginally less likely. The Hornets are seven points and nine places above the trapdoor.

Tonight was a great opportunity to ease further away, particularly given the brutal look to the eight games after the upcoming international break.

Before the game, Valerien Ismael had talked about a need to do whatever it takes to win in a week that he agreed was big for the club and him.

Whether he said the same to his players and they ignored him, or he delivered a different message to them, we’ll probably never know – but this was not the performance of a team that should have been full of desire and vigour to shake off the past few weeks and give themselves a far plumper cushion from the threat of going down.

Instead, it started so painfully similarly to many performances in the last couple of months. Slow, stuttering, lacking cohesion and all too often the chance to do something daring or dangerous in the final third was turned down in favour of a square ball or a pass back.

There just seemed to be no real plan. Sometimes what players did worked out, sometimes it didn’t. But generally there appeared to be no script, no pattern, no pre-planned ideas of how to go and win the game.

Swansea weren’t great themselves but once they had been gifted the lead by calamitous own goal, they had enough about them to keep a grip on what they had while generally frustrating the Hornets.

The second half was an improvement on the second half – although that is faint praise – and for the first 25 minutes Watford had one of their better spells in recent weeks.

A rare goal from a corner brought them level but, after that, although there were blocked shots and scrambles it never really felt like Watford would go on and grab the win they so badly needed.

To not win at home since late November is as embarrassing as it is damaging. It simply isn’t good enough.

With two more games before the pause for internationals, Watford surely need to win at least one if they don’t want to return and have to navigate their way to ensuring they are playing Championship football through a last six weeks full of the best sides in the division.

If they don’t, then Ismael will know that there will be two weeks for the owner to be flicking through his contacts book and wondering if he should stick or twist.

The longer this run goes on, the less surprising it would be if he reverted to type and went another season without sticking by the same head coach.

The biggest piece of team news was the return of keeper Dan Bachmann, who started his first Championship game since being sent off at Leicester on November 25.

Ryan Porteous, Ryan Andrews and Tom Dele-Bashiru came into the starting XI, with Ben Hamer, Francisco Sierralta and Edo Kayembe dropping to the bench.

Jeremy Ngakia was out altogether after sustaining a knee injury at Millwall on Saturday.

If Watford fans were hoping the huge need for a win would mean a swashbuckling display of potent attacking football, they were quickly to realise that wasn’t happening.

It was similar to so many starts this season – laboured, cautious and with very little threat.

Their best chance was probably in the 12th minute. Tom Dele-Bashiru won the ball in the centre circle and Yaser Asprilla broke through the middle into the box.

He had Ken Sema to his left and should probably have played him in, but the Colombian went for a shot that was deflected wide.

Sema did well to reach a long ball three minutes later, and then trick his way past a defender. He rolled the ball back from the by-line and Lewis hit it first time, the shot being deflected over.

Then, after 17 minutes, disaster.

Andrews chased a long ball over the top from Grimes and got to it first, heading it back into his own box. Trouble was, Bachmann had left his six-yard box and was heading out towards Andrews – and the pair could only watch as the ball skipped on into the empty net.

The only save Watford forced was after 27 minutes when Sema sent a 25-yard free-kick straight at Rushworth.

On the half-hour it could easily have been 2-0. Jamal Lewis was dispossessed by Ronald, who ran through on goal but saw Bachmann deflect his shot wide.

The half ended with Emmanuel Dennis having a shot deflected wide and Porteous meeting a corner but heading over the bar.

Just before half-time Sema signalled he had an injury, and was replaced by Giorgi Chakvetadze.

That led to a formation switch with the Georgian going on the left of midfield, Asprilla on the right and Jake Livermore partnering Asprilla in the middle. Dennis went up front with Vakoun Bayo as they changed to 4-4-2.

After starting the second period somewhat sluggishly, Watford levelled after 56 minutes.

Hoedt flicked on Chakvetadze's corner and Porteous scooped it over the line from a couple of yards.

It clearly lifted the Hornets and they bossed the next 15 minutes, although their end product was still not what it could have been.

In the 61st minute Chakvetadze broke through the heart of the defence and then laid the ball off to Asprilla 10 yards out. His shot was blocked and when Lewis hammered the rebound goalwards it was deflected wide.

Nine minutes later Placheta cut in from the left, nut-megged Porteous as he kept running but then sent a shot across the face of goal.

Six minutes from the end a great chance was wasted as Dennis cut in from the left, got to the centre of the box but then saw his shot deflected over.

At the death, a cross led to a scramble in which Asprilla, Lewis and Chakvetadze all had shots blocked but that was the closest they came to nicking it.

Watford: Bachmann; Andrews, Porteous, Hoedt, Lewis; Livermore (Kone ht), Dele-Bashiru, Asprilla; Dennis, Bayo (Rajovic 73), Sema (Chakvetadze 41). Subs: Hamer, Sierralta, Pollock, Ince, Kayembe, Martins