He may be unbeaten in his three games as interim head coach but Tom Cleverley is under no illusions that the five points collected from those could, and perhaps should, have been more.

The Hornets led Leeds twice at Vicarage Road on Good Friday and were two up at West Brom on Monday.

Both times they were pegged back to 2-2, and in each game they were denied victory by a late equaliser.

So while the performances and attitude have been very good, and he’s still unbeaten, Cleverley admits results probably ought to have been better.

“Ultimately that’s what football is all about,” he said.

“We can keep banging on about how pleased we’ve been with the performance but I would have been even more pleased with nine points having played averagely.

“It’s a bit ironic our worst performance out of the three was at Birmingham which was the game we’ve won.

“If the win comes with a great performance then everybody’s happy, but I would take three points on Saturday however they come and really reward those fans at Vicarage Road with something they deserve.”

One thing the trio of games has done is galvanise a squad that was starting to look weary through lack of success.

“First of all, we’ve got to keep this belief snowballing,” said Cleverley.

“We’ve shown that we can compete at a level that’s needed to be top or near the top of this league.

“Then we have to look at closing out games.

“When it happens once you don’t panic. When it happens twice then you think perhaps this isn’t a coincidence.

“It’s something we’ve worked on, we’ve addressed and something we believe won’t happen again.

“We’ve got something to build on, though, because we’ve had two draws that we need to turn into wins.

“So however that win was to come on Saturday, I’d take it.

“The fans were magnificent against Leeds and were really supportive, and both sets of away fans at Birmingham and West Brom were the same.

“We feel like the club’s really galvanised around the team and the staff, and we have to continue the feel-good factor.”

Illness reduced Cleverley’s squad options on Monday, but that appears to have cleared up and there is also good news on injury recovery.

“We lost Jack Grieves and Giorgi Chakvetadze through illness on Monday,” the Watford boss explained.

“They’ve progressed well and are on a quick road to recovery, and should be in contention for Saturday.

“Ken Sema and Jeremy Ngakia are progressing well. They’re both on the pitch – still with the medical department but on the grass as part of the rehab.

“I’d say both are around 10 days away from rejoining the group.”

Despite nursing a groin issue, Emmanuel Dennis played nearly an hour on Friday, and followed up with 75 minutes on Monday.

“I was really pleased with how he got through the two games with Leeds and West Brom,” said Cleverley.

“He felt it against Leeds, and his issue is a little bit spontaneous as it’ll raise its head sometimes.

“I don’t know if that happens because of a certain action or an overload.

“Jamal Lewis is also still nursing a little bit of an ankle issue but we’re being careful with that one as well.

“The medical department has done a really good job because we’ve limited our injuries this season.”