The significance of the Graham Taylor Matchday was in the mind of Watford’s current head coach as his team sneaked into the fourth round of the FA Cup through the back door.

The Hornets needed a stoppage-time goal to beat non-league Chesterfield 2-1 on a day when the Taylor family – along with many former players who served under the great man – gathered at Vicarage Road where the former manager presided over so many memorable cup victories.

This most recent success will not live long in the memory, other than for ensuring Watford reached the fourth round for the first time since 2019, and won a third-round tie at Vicarage Road for the first time since a 3-0 win over Bristol City in January 2018.

Valerien Ismael admitted afterwards that the need to honour the great man with one of the key reasons why he was determined to win the game.

“It’s a great feeling to be in the next round, and it was important for us for a number of reasons,” he explained.

“The first is that we will now move the Sheffield Wednesday game to later in the season because we will have the cup game that weekend, and that means we could have Edo Kayembe back and he will only miss two league games – unless he goes to the final of AFCON with DR Congo.

“Secondly we have another game to integrate our injured players like Jamal Lewis and Ken Sema, so they can have more minutes – and if we get new players in then they are able to get minutes as well.

“But as well it was the Graham Taylor Matchday, and it was important for us win today and to finish the first home game of 2024 with a win.

“We created a connection with our fans during the game against Stoke, and it was important to keep the momentum going.”

The goal may have come five minutes into stoppage time, but that was preferable to Ismael compared to a midweek away replay.

“I prefer to score a goal right at the very last minute than to have to go to a replay,” he said.

“We wanted another game in the FA Cup, but we didn’t want a replay.

“In the first half we were far away from keeping the momentum going, but last-minute goals like that create more belief in the players that we are able to come back in games.

“I think the main thing with the cup is always to get through because nobody will talk about the game when you get to the next one.

“But we made the game complicated for ourselves, and credit to Chesterfield because I think played a very good away game with a nothing-to-lose mentality.”

That mentality helped them to lead 1-0 at the interval, but Ismael said it was the manner of his side’s performance and not the scoreline that disappointed him most.

“It wasn’t that we conceded the goal, it was more that I didn’t feel in the first half we controlled anything,” he said.

“I said to the players at half-time that we needed to get back to our mentality because we are playing at home and we have to raise our standards.

“To me it is a non-negotiable to play at your level.

“We did that in the second half much better, with great mentality to score a goal right at the last minute.

“We knew we have that mentality and that enabled us to overcome the challenge.”