It may not have been great to watch and lacked ambition, but Watford hanging on grimly for a point at Leicester until defending at a set-piece again became their undoing.

Jannik Westergaard is too big to miss and yet he managed to get a largely uncontested header at the back post, which Dan Bachmann parried, only for Jamie Vardy to be the first to react and poke the loose ball into the net.

“We switched off, again,” admitted Valerien Ismael.

“We still have to defend those situations much, much better. You can’t think that the ball is clear or that it’s no longer in my area.

“We had the players in the right areas but we turned off. We turned our back on the situation, and we got punished for that.”

At the end of the 2-0 defeat Watford had Ryan Porteous in goal, as keeper and captain Dan Bachmann had been sent off for picking up two yellow cards.

The second led to the penalty that Vardy tucked away, but his first was for dissent after Vardy had clattered into Wes Hoedt – the fact Bachmann ran from his goal to halfway to remonstrate with the official made it look even worse.

“I spoke with Dan. I said to him that I think the first yellow card can be avoided,” said Ismael.

“We have a meeting before the game and when you have a captain who is a goalkeeper we nominate an outfield player to speak to the referee in certain situations.

“But if our goalkeeper runs 50 yards to talk to the referee, then you are in danger of getting a yellow card.”

Were the Hornets too respectful of the home side?

“You can see they have a very strong side, and I don’t think it’s so much too much respect as it is the quality of their players,” said the Watford boss.

“Football has become so tactical and technical, and the first team who makes a wrong move usually gets punished.

“It’s key to find the balance between being patient and being fast, both in your press and in your attacking build-up.”