This was bad. Properly poor. Tamely surrendering to defeat against a QPR side that had not won a game since December and had lost its last five on the spin.

It was such a meek, shot-shy, lame performance that the closest anyone from Watford got to the back of the Rangers net was when a Watford fan invaded the pitch from the away end on the closing stages.

It’s no laughing matter now though. Watford have won just once in nine games, and the honeymoon period for new head coach Chris Wilder lasted four days.

There was no new manager bounce, no renewed vigour and no sign of a goal as the Hornets have now played four and a half hours of football without scoring.

From the first whistle Rangers were up and at ‘em, chasing Watford down, harrying them, getting in their faces and snapping into tackles.

And, sadly, Watford did not seem to know what to do about that, how to counter it or what methods they could use to get a grip on the game.

Yes, they had possession – 60% of the ball across the 90 minutes. But two on-target goal attempts, neither of which stuck in the mind, showed the problem that has been there for many, many weeks.

The Hornets just do not do enough to create chances and therefore win games. For all the flair and talent everybody talks about, today Watford looked very ordinary, ran out of ideas and just couldn’t respond to the challenge Rangers posed.

And this is a QPR side that hasn’t won a game since December 17. They had lost their last five. They hadn’t kept a clean sheet in 12 games.

During the week, when stats highlighting the dreadful run the R’s have been on started to appear on social media, Watford fans joked about how a visit from the Hornets would change all that.

Sadly, painfully and almost predictably, they were right.

Watford are fast becoming the paracetamol of the Championship. Any opponent suffering pain, and the Hornets will quickly ease it.

The Hornets remain 10th but are now six points adrift of a play-off spot. That would be bad enough, but everything today suggested they are a long, long way from being able to string a run of good results together and close that gap.

All hope is not lost, but what hope was left is evaporating pretty fast – especially after performances like today.

Wilder made two changes in his first team selection, bring in Gaspar and Davis, dropping Araujo to the bench and leaving Morris out.

He went for 3-4-3 as well, a change from the 4-2-3-1 deployed by Bilic.

After a very scrappy opening period where the ball spent a lot of time in the air, Rangers took the lead with the first goal attempt in the 15th minute.

Iroegbunam won the ball 25 yards out, ran at the Watford defence and then moved left before angling a shot across Bachmann and inside the far post.

The goalscorer was oozing confidence and tried his luck from 20 yards, but this time it was a routine save for Bachmann

In the 36th minute it was Ireogbunam again, as he turned and shot from 25 yards, the ball cannoned off a teammate and bounced wide with Bachmann wrongfooted.

It was a miserable opening 45 minutes from the Hornets, who lacked cohesion and composure. They looked rushed and didn’t deal well with Rangers pressing all over the pitch.

Despite having 56% of possession in the first half, Watford did not force a save at all.

A move in the 55th minute summed up Watford. Louza played a clever pass to create space on the right of the box for Sarr. He then drilled what wasn't really a cross or a shot across the face of goal and out for a throw.

The 70th minute saw another typical Watford situation. A sustained spell with the ball around the Rangers box ended with Pedro crossing for Louza to head the ball against a defender and it ran tamely to Dieng.

As the game entered the last 15 minutes, Watford threw on Assombalonga for the injured Sarr and  took off Porteous, putting Asprilla in midfield and switching from 3-4-3 to 4-3-1-2.

An all-too-rare chance in the 80th minute when Hoedt shot from long distance, the ball deflected off a defender and went up in the air but Gaspar headed straight at Dieng without any real power.

In fact the closest to a second goal came four minutes from the end when Rangers broke quickly and substitute Armstrong forced Bachmann to save with his legs.

Rangers used the customary tactics to run the clock down, but they rarely looked like letting slip of the points and seven minutes of stoppage time ticked away without a whimper.

It’s now feeling like the same could be said for the whole season.

Watford: Bachmann; Porteous (Asprilla 76), Cathcart, Hoedt; Gaspar, Choudhury, Louza, Sema; Sarr (Assombalonga 76), Davis, Pedro. Subs: Hamer, Ngakia, Kone, Araujo, Kabasele