If scoring six goals away from home and moving back into the play-off places leads to a heightened sense of expectation around Watford, then Tom Cleverley is all for it.

The 6-2 romp at Sheffield Wednesday was the first away win since the 3-2 success at Millwall on the opening day and, while guarding against complacency, the head coach said he felt for too long the club had lost the desire to be considered a top team in the Championship.

"It's two really positive away performances on the trot now, and we have to go to Swansea in the week with the mentality of backing it up and create a real expectation that we're a club that wants to compete at the right end of the table." he said.

"I welcome that sort of expectation, and it's a feeling I felt we lost as a football club. We didn't have the expectation and demand to win matches.

"It's important now that the players don't get carried away by this performance as well. I said after the first three wins of the season that it didn't automatically make us an incredible team.

"We have to get our heads down and work really hard now to recover after today and then kick on as we have two more important games to come next week."

Being awarded two penalties in one game is pretty rare - to have them scored by two different players is rarer still.

"The lads managed the decision on takers by themselves. They took ownership of the situation and I will always back that," said Cleverley.

"They are the ones who are in the thick of it, and what a decision it seemed to be.

"It gave Bayo the confidence to kick on and get four goals.

"I couldn't be more pleased for an individual because the unselfish nature of his game doesn't always bring him praise.

"But we appreciate what he does for the team in and out of possession, and he fully deserves his goals today for the work he has been putting in this season."

The Watford boss was in no doubt that both penalty decisions were totally correct.

"For the first one the lad has gone to head it and missed it, and with his arm in an unnatural position it's struck his hand. It's unfortunate for him but it's a penalty," he reflected.

"The second one was a stonewall penalty and possibly lucky not to be a red card as well."

If there was a negative to pick over after the celebrations had died down it was that, once again, Watford took a long time to get going.

"We don't play our best football in the first half often enough and we need to address that," Cleverley admitted.

"But in the uncomfortable periods of the first half we managed to keep the ball out apart from on one occasion and we rode a couple of storms.

"I thought they had the better of the first half, but we generally improve in the second half and really do show our class, and that's what we did today."

The Hornets earned the right to play their football by being more resilient when the game wasn't going their way in the first half.

"We feel like if we're going to win a football match, it has to be a football match," said Cleverley.

"To play football you have to show personality and character, and I have to set the team up the right way.

"At Luton and Preston we didn't show enough appetite to want to play football and win the game.

"Today in the second half we certainly did, and in spells at Leeds we did as well."