Two goals down inside seven minutes just a few days after a derby day disaster – the game at Leeds United was heading towards an utter nightmare.

That it ended up far more of a contest than seemed likely when the second goal went in was down to a performance more akin to the Watford of earlier in the season.

“I thought we showed excellent character, and the personality we showed in possession was chalk and cheese compared to Saturday,” said Tom Cleverley.

“We’re that kind of team. We have to make it a football match and it suits us when it’s a football match.

“The challenge to the players is to show that level of consistency when it’s not going to be a football match. Can we fight and have personality in possession when it isn’t a quality football match?

“I felt we were unfortunate to come away with nothing this evening, but sometimes that’s football and you have to keep believing in the right things we’re doing and we are on the right path.”

The two goals Watford conceded were both down to individual mistakes by keeper Dan Bachmann, who stayed in the team having undergone a fitness test yesterday after he limped through Saturday’s game at Luton.

“Those goals were nothing to do with his fitness, just two freak mistakes that you don’t normally see from Dan,” said Cleverley.

“He’s one of the best shot-stoppers in the league and he’s won us a lot more points than he’s lost us.

“Tonight wasn’t his best evening.

“He went through a really strong fitness yesterday to prove he was fit because we didn’t want a repeat of Saturday, where after 10 minutes you could clearly see he wasn’t fit.

“He had a little tweak on Friday that we thought was fine, but it wasn’t on Saturday.

“So we made him go through a strong fitness that he passed clearly.”

Having conceded two bad goals and been taunted mercilessly by the crowd so soon after the fitness issues on Saturday, would Bachmann benefit from being taken out of the spotlight?

“It’s a little bit different with the older players,” replied Cleverley.

“They’re senior internationals who have been there and done that, and we have full faith in Dan.

“If you look at all the fancy stats, he wins us a lot more points than he loses.

“Tonight is one of the ones that doesn’t fall in that bracket, but over a long period of time Dan Bachmann will win you points.”