There was a touching moment before the game, as both sides remembered the late great Kenny Jackett, who passed away over the summer.

As well as a video tribute during the warm-ups, kick-off was preceded by a minute's applause by the stadium, joined by family and friends of Jackett, who were pitch-side.

Once the game kicked off, though, an all too familiar tale unravelled: Watford spent most of the match, even when the score was level, chasing the game.

Teams need goals to win games, and they need shots to score goals. That bit is obvious. But for Watford, shots were far from easy to come by, having failed to register any in the first half.

Instead, they rode wave after wave of pressure from the hosts, defending desperately simply not to fall behind.

Luca Kjerrumgaard receiving treatment. (Image: Alan Cozzi / Watford FC)

A worrisome moment arrived just after the half-hour mark, when Luca Kjerrumgaard went down with a head injury. Thankfully, after somewhat lengthy treatment and being bandaged, he was okay and able to continue.

Such levels of pressure would be unsustainable for most teams, and it proved so for Watford when Adam Armstrong opened the scoring in the 35th minute.

It felt like it could have been the opening of the floodgates, given Wolves’ dominance and the Hornets’ proneness to heavy defeats recently, but that was not the case.

A combination of valiant, though admittedly frantic at times, defending and profligacy from the hosts kept the deficit to just one at the break, a scoreline which flattered Watford.

On another day, Alessio Dionisi’s side would have trailed by three or four at the break, reminiscent of recent thrashings against Burnley and Cardiff.

But, however it happened, Watford had a fighting chance heading into the second half, but needed a significant improvement.

There was an improvement, but only because of how low the bar from the first half was. In the second half, Watford did enjoy some shots, a welcome change, but chances were more defined by what could have been, rather than what actually happened, a damning indictment of the performance.

Some of those ‘what if’ chances, like Othmane Maamma’s cross which Myron Boadu came millimetres away from connecting with in the six-yard box, could have changed the outcome, but it would have been more than Watford deserved.

Watford enjoyed a late flurry of chances and momentum but, once again, it was what did not happen which was significant. Clear-cut openings were few and far between, and chances were too often squandered because of the Hornets’ own doing.

Things will not get any easier for Watford, who travel to Norwich next weekend; another opportunity to improve the Hornets’ torrid away record. But the Canaries ended a six-game losing streak on Saturday with a 3-1 win at Charlton.