It’s a proper old-school footballing cliché that often gets rolled out when it shouldn’t.

However, after the game with Coventry on Saturday, even Watford head coach Tom Cleverley gave the media licence to use it.

“A game of two halves was exactly how I summed it up in the dressing room,” he said.

“I thought it was a stereotypical Championship game, and it was probably a fair result.

“I think both managers will see it as a point gained and not two lost because both managers will feel like they could have lost that game.

“There are a lot of bones to pick out of it.”

For the Watford boss, there was concern at how often his side didn’t win their duels in the first half.

“We lost too many first and second contacts in the first half, and Coventry actually handed us something of a curveball with their team selection,” he admitted.

“We thought they could line up with a three pre-match, but that’s not how they ended up playing.

“That’s not an excuse, it just created a little bit of uncertainty and that’s the first time we’ve had that with an opposition team selection.”

The half-time discussion centred around being prepared to take the risks required in order to turn the game around.

“At half-time we discussed the need to get pressure higher up the pitch, and that comes with an element of risk,” Cleverley said.

“We looked in each other’s eyes and agreed that we are going to play with risk at home because this is where we have to win games.

“We matched them up in midfield, and we had Moussa do a job on Rudoni which I think improved us.

“We got a foothold in the game, and that is generally the case when you dominate the midfield.

“In the second half we played with the handbrake off, and with nothing to lose.

“Even in the last 10 minutes I still wanted the players to play as if they had nothing to lose because I wanted us to try and win the game.

“We controlled the ball, stuck to the game plan, but something we don’t want to be doing is chasing games every week.”