After a tight and often quite tame first half against Stoke, Watford found a few more gears in the second 45 minutes and left the visitors in their wake.

The Hornets had 17 goal attempts after half-time, 13 of them in a thoroughly dominant first half an hour.

What was said and done in the home dressing room at half-time that elevated a fair performance into a scintillating one?

“From a mentality point of view I just said that the game was there for the taking,” reflected Tom Cleverley.

“The first half was quite cagey and the heat plays a part in that, so you sort of go into the game with the handbrake slightly on and it’s a bit like the first round in a boxing contest.

“I don’t want my team starting on the back foot like we did though.

“You always have in the back of your mind that there could be a slow start on a hot day like this, and Stoke were on top for the first 10 minutes.

“We contained that, and managed to turn the tide.

“But at half-time I said that if you really want to grab the game by the scruff of the neck, it’s there for you.

“Tactically we said about switching the ball and having an overload down the side of our wing-backs, and they executed that really well.”

The head coach looked back on the second half with a lot of satisfaction.

“I loved the intensity of our second-half performance,” he said.

“I said to the boys at half-time that the game was there for us to win, so let’s take the shackles off, and play without fear.

“At the end of the day if you make a mistake and lose the game, it’s only a game of football.

“So go out with the shackles off, and I thought we absolutely did that.

“We gave them a couple of bits of tactical information but the players' mentality won them the game.”