Head coach Rob Edwards said that while he was disappointed to lose his first league game of the season, the manner of the goals Watford conceded hurt just as much.

The Hornets twice came from behind but ultimately were undone as the visitors ran at them and created gaps which they then exploited.

“Obviously the result is the be all and end all of everything, and that hurt, but the manner of the goals in key moments of the game hurt too,” he said.

“When I look back and reflect on the goals, we could have done better on all of them. There was obviously an element of luck in the first one because the deflection has totally wrongfooted Dan, but we should have been getting closer to the ball.

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Match report - Hornets suffer first league defeat

“We had a brilliant opportunity down the other end right before their second goal. We didn’t make the most of it, and then we didn’t organise ourselves when there was a quick transition in play. Then we didn’t defend our box well enough either.

“The third goal was similar to the second in that there was quick turnover of play and a quick break. We didn’t deal with it and we had too many players going to try and affect the ball, which meant we then lacked numbers in the box when the ball came in.

“Goals change games, they are the biggest moments and there were three today where we didn’t do well enough.”

The Watford defence never looked comfortable when Ilias Chair got on the ball and ran at them.

“Chair is a good player isn’t he,” said Edwards. “We know he’s good, and they might have looked at our team and thought we had similar very good players who can do the same thing as him. It is hard to defend when a tricky, pacy player is running at you.

“I’m not going to single players out but, as a team, there were times today when we should have defended better when they were running at us with the ball. As a group, as a unit, we should and could have defended better.”

There was obvious frustration in the stands, particularly after Rangers scored their third, that Watford seemed unwilling to play quick balls forward and instead went sideways or even backwards.

“The players started to recognise where the space was – it was on the outside and behind them,” said Edwards.

“If you make straight runs in that situation you are probably going to be offside, so we were looking to angle our runs. The first goal was a good example, a move that was well executed: we saw where the space was, Joao’s pass and Ken’s run, and we get a goal.

“We started the second half well, we were in the ascendancy and got the goal – then we stopped doing what we’d been doing. We just stopped doing the things that had been getting us success, and I don’t know why. I haven’t got an answer for that right now.

“We started going safe, they bank up and then you’ve got to try and find a way through. At 2-2 we just didn’t ask enough questions of them or take enough risks.

“After the third goal we had a bit of a wobble. You could sense it, you could hear the crowd react to it, and we had to steady ourselves, recover and start pushing again.”

The Hornets did think they had an equaliser when Edo Kayembe crashed home a piledriver from just outside the box – an effort that was disallowed for offside, wrongly in Edwards’ opinion.

“When the ball went into the box Ismaila was in an offside position, but I didn’t think he affected things. In my opinion, that goal should stand. Shame because it was a good strike.”