A third consecutive clean sheet and only six goals conceded at Vicarage Road since Tom Cleverley took over in March.

While the story may be somewhat different on the road, the defence has been the bedrock of the home form and, on Tuesday night, there were outstanding performances from two players who have – in recent times – come in for some stick.

Dan Bachmann and Ryan Porteous were both instrumental in the win over Bristol City.

“They are two very experienced international players, two real class leaders in the dressing room,” said Cleverley.

“Both of them were excellent on Tuesday evening.

“Our away form and defensive record has sort of painted a picture of us, but I think at home we’ve only conceded six in 14 games under me.

“At home we have been very solid.

“We all work as hard as possible to be as consistent as possible, and I know more than anyone because I went through a period in my career where I felt I couldn’t pass a ball ten yards.

“Confidence plays a big part, but both Porteous and Bachmann have 100% of my belief.”

Conversely, Tuesday night was not so great for Kwadwo Baah.

The Watford boss replaced the forward at half-time and has talked about the need to spread the load on the youngster.

“I mentioned a few weeks ago the expectation for Baah is growing and growing, and that’s from the staff as well,” Cleverley said.

“We need to know that not every game can he score, assist or have huge impact.

“Tuesday was one of his quieter performances, and whether that was because he played a lot of minutes on Friday is something we’ll get to the bottom of through trial and error.

“It’s important to know that we can’t expect huge things from him every game and he will have quieter times.”

As well as not being at their best, Watford’s dangerous players are also going to attract particular attention from opposing teams.

It won’t always be that the player has performed badly, it can also be the other side has done a good job of stopping them.

“The likes of Chakvetadze and Baah are the first names that come from the lips of opposition managers when I speak to them and where we’re talking matchwinners,” said Cleverley.

“But we have a good spread of goals this season: Incey has five, Edo has five or six, Bayo’s got seven.

“You can stop those two players, but we have big threats in other areas. Those three I mentioned have got nearly 20 goals between them already this season.

“We have two gems in Giorgi and Baah, but we pose a threat in other parts of the pitch as well.”