Gianfranco Zola admitted he was “very frustrated” to give away the lead twice against Bristol City this afternoon but did state there were a lot of positives; one of which was the performance of Troy Deeney.

The Hornets dominated the first half and took the lead twice in the second through a James Wilson own goal and Matej Vydra’s fourth goal of the season.

But Bristol City twice equalised as Marvin Elliott made it 1-1 and Steven Davies levelled with seven minutes remaining.

Zola said: “If I only focussed on that [losing a lead twice] then yes it is very frustrating. But there were also a lot of good, positive things I can take from this game; we created a lot and scored two goals.

“Towards the end it was a little bit shaky and it was not very healthy for the manager’s heart but a lot of that was down to the fact that many of the players are coming back from injuries and there are players who are not playing well. So we tired a little bit.

“It is early days and we will improve that, and then we will be a very good team.”

Deeney received a warm reception from the home crowd today and made an immediate impact when he came on.

Watford’s top scorer from last season almost scored with one of his first touches, played a big part in the opener and hit the post with a header.

Zola said: “We are trying to play good football. I thought the first half was good but too slow. In the second half we increased the tempo and when Troy came on he made a big impact. The situation got better and better.

“It is encouraging and I will take a lot of positives from the game.”

On Deeney, he added: “I am glad Deeney is back. He is an important player and he is just the right player for this team.

“Today he showed very good attributes and he will get better and better. We are very happy to have him and we will improve a lot.”

Click here to read a report of today's game.