It was an all-too-familiar tale for a match involving Watford of late, as the Under-21’s shot themselves in the foot and slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bristol City.

The young Hornets got a grip of a game that was meandering nowhere when Tobi Adeyemo put them ahead with a fine strike in first-half stoppage time.

However, rather than build on that in the second half, Watford gifted the visitors an equaliser when young keeper Roraigh Browne mishit a pass straight to a City player, before Adian Manning handled inside the box to concede a penalty that proved decisive.

To compound the misery, shortly after Bristol City had a player sent off in the final minute, Watford’s Adrian Blake also saw red for an off-the-ball incident. The linesman at the centre of it had already caused angst by letting play go on and seeing the referee give Watford a corner, before summoning him over to say he had seen a foul in the build-up but hadn’t kept his flag up because he thought the referee wanted to play on.

Then, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, the ball went out of play and the referee signalled for a throw. While the ball was being fetched, suddenly two or three City players began shouting “linesman, you saw that” and pointed at Blake.

Initially the official did nothing, but the shouts and appeals from the City players continued. Then he called the referee over, said something in his ear, and Blake was shown a straight red.

It was a bizarre ending to a disappointing game on a bitterly cold afternoon, and Watford will certainly reflect that they should have ended it with some sort of reward.

That they didn’t was largely their own fault as they had the better of the chances and restricted City to little down the other end, but both goals they conceded were of their own making.

Blake had a decent game until blotting his copybook at the end, displaying his usual willingness to run at players as well as having a bag of tricks in terms of turns, flicks and stepovers.

Adeyemo, physically, looked a step above most other players on the pitch and he used his presence to lead the line effectively, with January signing Ezio Touray playing in the ‘number 10’ role behind.

One player who caught the eye in midfield was 18-year-old Charlie Davis. He may not be the biggest but he’s still happy to snap into tackles and showed good strength in possession, as well as quick feet and an eye for a pass.

The first half was particularly low on key moments. Ryan Andrews saw a shot deflected wide for a corner and Blake seized on a poor clearance from Harvey Wiles-Richards to release a low drive which the City keeper did well to get back and smother.

It looked to be heading for a goalless stalemate at the break, but then Adeyemo illuminated what had been a dull afternoon with a moment of class in stoppage time.

Davis played the ball into the striker’s feet on the edge of the box, and Adeyemo lost his marker with a very sharp turn before firing a low shot inside the near post.

Within seconds of the restart it was so nearly 2-0 as Blake’s clever curled pass into the feet of Touray saw the forward prod a shot which came back off the base of the post.

There was a warning for Watford that City would press if they overplayed at the back when Kai Churchley nicked the ball and burst between the centre backs before shooting wide as Browne narrowed the angle.

But, in the 54th minute, there was no let-off as the ball was played back to Browne and he seemed torn between going long and trying to play a pass forward. In the end, he gave the ball straight to Ephraim Yeboah, and the striker strode into the box and placed his shot past the Watford keeper.

Watford regrouped and the lively Touray hooked a volley that the keeper held before Blake’s shot was blocked and Andrews thumped the rebound wide.

Probably the best move of the game should have restored Watford’s lead in the 67th minute as Touray’s excellent pass between central defender and full-back allowed Andrews to burst into the box and drag a low cross back. It was perfectly in the path of Michael Adu-Poku and he connected well with a shot only to see it blocked by a diving defender.

That proved even more costly in the 75th minute when Manning handled inside the box and Churchley stepped up to score from the spot.

It could have been worse when substitute Ewan Clark jinked through a couple of challenges and drew Browne from his line but then rolled his shot wide of the back post.

A minute into stoppage time Tommy Backwell was sent off for his second bookable offence, but any hope Watford had of exploiting the man advantage in what time remained quickly evaporated when Blake followed him back to the dressing room.

Watford: Browne, Andrews, Manning, Fankwe, Mullins, Coyne, Adu-Poku (Harrison 79), Davis, Adeyemo, Touray (Collins 86), Blake. Subs not used: Ortelli, Burton, Fraser-Grante