Ben Watson was left at a loss to understand how Watford managed to suffer a 2-1 defeat at the hands of relegation-threatened Swansea City.

Watford led 1-0 thanks to Andre Carrillo’s header with four minutes to play, only for Jordan Ayew and Luciano Narsingh to hit back late in the day.

The hosts had plenty of chances to seal victory, most notably when Andre Gray fired straight at Lukasz Fabianski when clean through, and were by far the better side.

For Watson the failure to convert dominance into goals was a frustration and he feels Watford must learn from the defeat.

“We are disappointed to say the least,” he said. “I do not know how we have lost the game to be honest.

“We were in total control and had a great chance to make it 2-0, didn’t take it, didn’t kill the game off and got punished.

“If you don’t finish teams off, then at 1-0 they are always in the game. We had the chance to go 2-0 up and then they go straight down the other end and score.

“If we score that, the last 10 minutes you can enjoy, but that wasn’t the case.”

Watford’s late collapse was made all the harder to swallow by the fact they have suffered a similar fate before this season.

Marco Silva’s side threw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at Selhurst Park and were beaten 3-2 by Everton having led 2-0 at Goodison Park.

Watson is, of course, aware of the developing trend and wants to see a reaction against Manchester City on Tuesday night.

He said: “It is not the first time it has happened this season where we have had a chance to kill off a few games and haven’t done it.

“We have paid the price and have again today. It is a tough one to take and we have to bounce back and go again on Tuesday.”