This season’s excellent home form has lifted a weight off the Watford players says defender Ryan Porteous.

The Scottish international played a key role in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Bristol City which made it seven wins and a draw from eight league games this season at Vicarage Road.

That’s more league victories than the Hornets managed in the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign.

“The first message from Tom, when we came back after the summer, was that we needed to change the home record,” said Porteous.

“That home form has been so important to us because it was a burden last season when we were doing so badly at our place.

“It was hanging over us, so it's good to get the home support back.”

Porteous admitted the performance against City, particularly in the first half, was not good.

“Our fans were probably disappointed at the way we performed, particularly in the first half,” he said.

“But we kept a clean sheet in that first half and gave ourselves a platform.

“We went in at half-time, reassessed, and the manager gave us a way to win the game. He gave us a few things to deal with. It's always good to have a strategy to win the game.”

Porteous revealed the team had met to discuss how they could improve seeing out games and not let points slip away.

“We managed the game a lot better once we went 1-0 up,” he said.

“We had a meeting about that. It was something we needed to iron out because we've conceded a few goals late on. Also, we didn't look too great late on against Blackburn and Oxford.

“We need to look more solid in the late stages, and when James Morris came on against Bristol City, he has such a cool head for a young lad - he brought that quality alongside me and Mattie.

“Last season, the Bristol City match was the kind of game we could have lost, even after going ahead.

“There are lot of small details to iron out as we manage a game, and I felt we did that in the last 15 minutes against Bristol City.”

Porteous felt Watford needed to put things right after throwing away two points on Friday night.

“I felt really disappointed after the game at Plymouth because apart from the two moments from Andre Gray, it was a really solid performance and we controlled most of the match,” he admitted.

“It was a long bus journey for us to reflect on what had happened and get it out of our system.

“The message from the manager was not to be too down on ourselves because we had played well.

“But the Bristol City match was all about getting the result and continuing to be formidable at home. We want to be that team that keeps plugging away no matter what.

“We've found another level to our game this year where we're a 'win ugly' side.

“We've won a lot of games by one goal and that helps.

“We know that clean sheets will win games because we're the kind of team who are always going to score goals.

“So we're happy with the result against Bristol City and the good thing about the Championship is that it's game after game and when you're in good form like we are now, it's a great time to be playing games.”

Next up is a home game with QPR, who are struggling in the relegation zone but will not be taken lightly.

“We know that Rangers pose a threat,” said Porteous.

“They've had a few players out, but they're fighting for their lives and sometimes that can bring out a good spell of results.

“But we won't change our approach for any game this season. Of course we'll go for the win but we'll be wary of the threat that QPR pose and we'll be doing our homework over the next few days.

“We're definitely not sitting back and thinking this is going to be a pushover. We've learned that lesson from previous games.

“Plymouth were relatively low in the table, but moments of brilliance from good players can win games and they dug in until the last minute.”