What started out, quite understandably, as an evening where Watford fans feared another unwanted entry in the record books, ended with a reasonable debate about whether they were perhaps a shade unlucky not to take Premier League champions Manchester City to penalties.

Having lost all of the last 15 games against City with an aggregate score if 58-8 and the trip to the Etihad coming only a few days after the grim defeat at Norwich, the portents were ominous.

Sat in the press box inside the ground, we were treated to seeing live coverage of the City players getting off the bus just over an hour before kick-off.

When the first few weren’t instantly recognisable it was quite heartening, but then the likes of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Savinho, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernado Silva appeared.

There was a sprinkling of higher squad numbers, including 16-year-old debutant defender Kaiden Braithwate, but it was a City team sill boasting top talent, and a bench that had a real ‘open in case of emergency’ feel to it.

So to sit back a couple of hours later having seen a 2-1 Carabao Cup defeat – the closest scoreline the Hornets have achieved at the Etihad since 2016 – and note that City brought back all 11 players for the sole Watford corner in a rousing finale was a far better end to the evening than anyone could have reasonably expected.

The Hornets could have taken the game to penalties, but to say they should have done so was probably a step too far.

Watching the highlights back, City boss Pep Guardiola was correct in his assessment that his side had sufficient second-half chances to have put the game soundly to bed.

However, that they didn’t was as much due to a string of top-class saves from Jonathan Bond and some resolute defending as any profligacy on their part.

As Tom Cleverley was to point out after the game, Watford showed the art of basic defending, coupled with concentration and determination, will always give you a chance.

Sadly, all three were lacking when the home side were served up their opening goal in the fifth minute.

When you are playing away to a team that has only failed to score six times at home since the start of the 2020/21 season – and you’ve had a real problem with starting badly – then the absolute last thing you should be doing is giving a goal away.

To his credit, Ryan Porteous said in an interview afterwards it was his error, as he simply underhit a pass back to Bond which James McAtee read well and intercepted.

Even then, it wasn’t a gimme in golfing parlance, but it was turned into a goal by a sublime turn and drag-back from Jeremy Doku, who then finished into the corner.

How many times, during those Premier League seasons, did we find ourselves saying ‘that’s the sort of mistake that gets punished in this division’?

Watford may have got away with it in the Championship, but against City . . . well once McAtee had stolen the ball there was a sense of foreboding about what was soon to happen.

Nonetheless, this time (and five early goals in the last six games is ridiculous) the reaction to going behind so soon was far better.

In fact, had it not been for referee David Webb, Watford would have been level in the 21st minute.

The hugely-impressive Kwadwo Baah won the ball on halfway, swatting away 81-times-capped England defender John Stones, and then set off on a charge forward down the right flank.

Braithwate went with him and as they headed into the box it looked like the City defender was about to get goalside and stop the Watford forward.

Baah had other ideas, and with a good old-fashioned shove of the shoulder he sent the young defender tumbling before drilling the ball past Stefan Ortega at his near post.

“A perfectly good goal” was Cleverley’s accurate summary, the commentator on Sky yelled “that’s superb play” as the ball hit the net, and former Southampton and England midfielder Matt Le Tisser posted on X that it “looked like the Watford striker was just stronger in the shoulder to shoulder department”.

Watch the highlights: there are seven outfield City players in the box, plus Ortega, and not one of them appeals.

Not even Braithwate makes any gesture, and if anyone knows if they’ve been fouled it’s the player on the receiving end.

It was men against boys in that moment, literally.

Baah is five years older and has 70-odd senior appearances to his name, Braithwate is 16 and before last night his most senior appearance was one minute for City’s Under-21s against Derby in August.

However, referee Mr Webb seemingly couldn’t wait to rule it out, despite being stood outside the box and there being no signal from his assistant who was in line with play.

Just as we remember how teams in the Premier League used to punish us, we probably also recall how officials seemed to apply the laws of the game slightly differently to certain opponents.

Would Erling Haaland have reached 100 goals for City so quickly had Mr Webb been officiating for all of them?

The anger at having a seemingly good goal ruled out was compounded when City doubled their lead through a pinpoint finish from Matheus Nunes, the sort of £53m fringe player they can casually chuck in for a Carabao Cup tie and nobody bats an eyelid.

Just before the break Watford failed to take a great chance to halve the deficit when a superb left-wing cross from Yasser Larouci was headed wide of the near post by Vakoun Bayo.

The striker had done all the hard work by anticipating the ball in and getting across Kyle Walker, but once he had got there he had to get his effort on target.

Bayo has scored 50 career goals in 176 outings, but half of those came in the French Ligue 2 and the Slovak First Division.

For Watford, he’s managed 11 goals in 59 games, so worse than one every five games. That will have to improve when he heads off to play in Serie A.

The early part of the second half was when City looked most likely to cut loose, and there was an incredible passage of play when Bond denied Nunes, James Morris dived in to block a follow-up Rico Lewis effort, and then when Savinho curled a shot beyond the Watford keeper, Tom Ince headed off the line.

Bond dashed off his line to smother a Nunes effort, pushed away a 25-yard Foden effort and, having seen the replays, got his fingertips on a shot from Savinho that then hit the post.

In between, Watford had sent on Chakvetadze and his direct running at pace certainly unsettled City.

He robbed Foden just outside his own box, and then accelerated through the centre of the pitch with Baah in support.

Sadly, as the Georgian drifted to the left, Baah did too and they filled the same space with the latter eventually shooting wide.

Bond denied Grealish what looked to be a certain third when he saved with his body from close-range after a clever cut-back from Savinho, and then the Hornets sent the away fans into raptures.

As so often this season, Chakvetadze was at the heart of the goal with another lung-busting burst from his own half that had City back-tracking.

His attempt to find Vata rebounded to him, and so he moved the ball right instead of left to Ince.

There was very much an air of ‘I’ve been doing this all my career lads’ as Ince moved the ball out of his feet, leaned back a little and curled the perfect left-foot shot beyond Ortega and into the far top corner.

A peach of a strike from a player that continues to look revitalised under Cleverley and who, along with Baah, Ebosele and debutant Angelo Ogbonna, must surely enter the head coach’s mind for a starting berth against Sunderland on Saturday - or some time off the bench at least.

A word too for a brief but promising cameo from midfielder Pierre Dwomoh. Having seen him shine despite Watford Under-21s being trounced 8-2 at Sheffield United, what he did in a few minutes last night only underlined he could be a real option in midfield, because he definitely likes a tackle.

There wasn’t to be any fairytale equaliser and, while that would have been fun, a one-goal margin of victory for the home side was probably fair enough – and much better than was hoped for ever since the draw was made.

National and local press colleagues in the media room afterwards made much of City making a lot of changes as they looked for reasons why this wasn’t the usual goal-fest when Watford were in town – when they’d finished I chipped in with the fact that the Hornets had made nine changes themselves so perhaps had we fielded a stronger team we might have won.

Nonetheless, it was the acceptable face of defeat and showed Watford can change shape to look more solid and robust in their own final third without sacrificing too much attacking intent.

Now the key thing is to back that up over the course of the next 10 days when there are three league games and nine points to play for.

Not conceding early is a must, surely, and hopefully one or two of those who shone brightly last night will get a chance to do so against Sunderland.