Making your full home debut, getting a standing ovation when you are substituted late on and then being voted man of the match is a pretty good Saturday by anyone’s standards.

For Ryan Andrews – who truly is ‘one of our own’ having progressed through the Academy – the 2-0 win over Bristol City will likely be a day he won’t forget in a hurry.

It’s been a good season for the Academy with Tobi Adeyemo’s unforgettable goal against Blackpool, and a number of others making their senior debuts.

Head coach Chris Wilder paid tribute to Andrews, and also the Watford fans for their reaction to him.

“Ryan’s performance and the reception he got from the supporters was the highlight of the day for me, to be honest,” he said.

“The attitude of the supporters towards him was brilliant, and he gave a really positive performance. He was assured and confident, defended well – there are things we can work on with him, but that’s the case with any player.

“He knows what’s important now is that he does it again in the next game, and finds that consistency. If he’s going to be a player he needs to rattle out some performances now.

“There are decent players that play the same position who will be fighting to get back into the team, and he has to do what he needs to do in order to keep the shirt.

“If he plays like he did in the last two games then he’s going to be difficult to move.

“I’ve been really impressed with the Academy as a whole. I’ve watched the Under-21s two or three times now, and there are good people involved.

“They’re trying to produce proper footballers, and I like what I see.”

When Wilder mentions consistency, it brings back into focus that stringing good performances together, never mind good results, has been one of the main reasons why this season has been so disappointing.

Having performed well enough for an hour at Coventry and then beaten Bristol City, there is a platform on which Watford could secure back-to-back league wins for only the second time this season – which means the game with Cardiff at Vicarage Road tomorrow night is a bit of an acid test as to whether there is renewed confidence and belief.

“Yeah, this is a bit of an acid test for us,” admitted Wilder.

“I want to win in everything that we do, and I want the team to have that same mentality.

“If we don’t build on the last two and show more belief and confidence, then we know there’s no margin for error.

“We made better decisions and showed more belief when we were 2-0 up on Saturday. Obviously we were at home and that helps.

“At Coventry when they scored to make it 2-1 you felt it was coming, and that we’d have a job on our hands to see it out. I didn’t feel it was the same on Saturday.

“On Saturday we made tactical changes at 2-0. We went 4-4-2 and had a nice solid shape about us, and we did what we could to help the players to be a bit more solid.

“There were odd moments at 2-0, but I did feel more confident. We kept our shape for the majority of the rest of the game and I thought we saw it out relatively comfortably.”

One of the main differences in the last couple of games has been end product – possession this season has, more often than not, failed to lead to shots and goals.

“You’ve seen more of the season than me, but we’ve seen clips of it and then had games here. We want something at the end of our possession,” said Wilder.

“It can’t always be the perfect goal. Sometimes people get fixed on scoring the perfect goal, when what you need to do is get a shot away.

“I thought there was a brilliant bit of play in the first half on Saturday when Hamza played a back-heel and Sarr has hit it first time. If that goes in, everybody would say that was a Premier League goal.

“The goalkeeper has made a save, but we’ve had that bit of flair from Hamza and an instant shot from Sarr. That comes with confidence and allowing the players to express themselves at the top end of the pitch.

“Being a good player comes in lots of different forms. If you’ve got the chance to square the ball for a teammate to score with a tap-in, that’s a good decision.

“If we’ve got a player in a one v one, I want to see them be positive and take their man on.

“I don’t want to stop any player from showing their flair, but what I don’t want is players all over the pitch doing stuff because making the right decision at the right time is another important part of the game.”

The first half at Coventry was good, the last 30 minutes less so – and that is the issue Wilder has been trying to fix. Players need to continue to make good decisions even when they come under pressure.

“My issue is that we’ve done these things when we’re 2-0 up and let points slip. When you’re 2-0 up is the time to be a good team player as well,” said Wilder.

“There has been a question mark over belief and the fragility of our confidence because we’ve lost leads in games.

“But that belief only grows when you look and go ‘right, we’re 2-0 up, that’s enough’ and you go on and win the game. Of course I want us to look to score a third, but I don’t want us giving away a goal and then have to go through a nervous spell at 2-1.

“It’s about making good decisions, and if we have to be solid and turn the ball around, then we have to do that. Let’s make good decisions when we’re leading in the last 10 or 15 minutes and not put ourselves at risk.

“The decisions we made at Coventry when we were 2-0 up were not good ones. On Saturday, when we were 2-0 up against Bristol City, they were better.”