Those Watford fans who spent the time, money and effort making the long journey north to Edinburgh for a pre-season friendly were rewarded not only with an entertaining victory as Watford won 3-2 at Hibernian tonight, but reasons to feel encouraged as the preparations continued for the new Championship campaign.

Although Tom Cleverley opted to leave several first-team regulars at St George’s Park where the Hornets are training this week, those he took to Easter Road rewarded him with a largely good night’s work after a slow start.

The hosts made all the early running and the Hornets were duly punished for their flat opening as Campbell gave Hibs a 16th-minute lead, but the visitors started to spark into life after Ryan Porteous had seen an acrobatic effort ruled out for offside and by the 35th minute had turned the game around thanks to goals from Imran Louza and Rocco Vata.

A Porteous mistake led to the home side equalising eight minutes after the restart but, for once, the customary second-half substitutions didn’t lead to a detrimental effect on the Hornets’ performance.

If anything, it lifted it as Cleverley gave a batch of Academy youngsters an opportunity off the bench and, judging by their faces at the end, they enjoyed getting their latest chance to shine.

Michael Adu-Poku and Amin Nabizada, the supplier and scorer of their side’s winner, both caught the eye, but the brightest of all was Leo Ramirez-Espain, who played the full 90 minutes.

The midfielder quickly overcame almost gifting Hibs an early lead to produce a display that was composed and showed his quality on the ball as he sought to be positive and progressive with his passing when the chance arose.

Vata got off the mark with his first goal since moving from Celtic and again showed his exciting potential during his hour on the pitch, while Louza and Tom Ince also enjoyed productive nights.

Mileta Rajovic is another worthy of positive mention for his contribution during his 45 minutes. So often criticised for not holding the ball up well enough, that aspect of his play was much better tonight as he also helped link up attacks with some nice touches and understanding with his teammates.

On the flip side, Watford will need to improve on their slow start that handed the early initiative to their opponents, a spell during which they also looked shaky at the back.

But this was a game that will leave fans who were at Easter Road or watching on Hibs’ YouTube channel feeling more optimistic than after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Gillingham, and not simply because of the result.

There were only four players – Porteous, Mattie Pollock, Francisco Sierralta and Vata – who remained in the starting XI from the game at Priestfield as Cleverley, as he said he would do on Saturday, split his squad between being on duty in Edinburgh or training at St George’s Park.

Watford started slowly and looked flat in the opening stages as Hibs showed all the early attacking intent.

Ramirez-Espain was almost punished after selling Jonathan Bond short with a back pass in the fourth minute, but after Vente had dragged an opening wide the hosts took the lead when Martin Boyle took on and beat James Morris before whipping in a cross which Josh Campbell squeezed beneath the body of Bond after getting across Sierralta.

Hibs were more comfortable and progressive on the ball in the opening 20 minutes, but after Porteous had seen a lovely scissor kick ruled out against his former club for offside Watford started to come to attacking life.

They lifted the tempo of their game, started to enjoy some good possession in and around the Hibs box and weren’t far away from equalising when Louza hit the side netting with an 18-yard strike after Morris had cut the ball back.

Within a minute though, Louza had equalised, finding space in the box to convert after Kwadwo Baah had taken on and beat his man to centre from the right.

Vata continued the encouraging start to his Hornets career, drifting in between two opponents before curling wide from the edge of the D, before he scored his first goal for the club with a fine 35th-minute strike that was deflected into the far corner.

Rajovic and new signing Antonio Tikvic were introduced at half-time for Baah and Sierralta, but eight minutes after the restart Watford were pegged back when Porteous tried to glance a lofted pass forward from Dylan Levitt back to Bond and Harry McKirdy nipped in to equalise.

The Hornets hadn’t really got going as an attacking force in the second half when Cleverley turned to youth with a quadruple change soon after the hour.

Within four minutes, Watford were back in front when Michael Adu-Poku took on and beat his man on the right before his low was calmly converted by fellow substitute Nabizada.

The Hornets had chances to increase their lead in the final 15 minutes as Shaq Forde shot wide, Ramirez-Espain was denied by a fine Brouc save following a neatly worked corner routine before Ince hit a superb effort narrowly wide two minutes from time.

Watford: Bond; Sierralta (Tikvic 46), Porteous (Clarridge 64), Pollock (Abbott 76); Ngakia (Adu-Poku 64), Louza (Forde 64), Ramirez-Espain, Morris (Watkiss 87); Ince, Vata (Nabizada 64); Baah (Rajovic 46). Subs not used: Marriott, Adeyemo.