Stopping the team with the best home goalscoring record from finding the net to earn a point with a performance full of character and commitment left Tom Cleverley visibly and audibly proud at Portman Road on Wednesday night.

His Watford side will have surprised plenty, including some of their own fans, in the way they battled to earn a 0-0 draw and become only the second Championship side this season to keep a clean sheet at Ipswich.

The Tractor Boys had won their last five at home and scored 19 goals in the process, but despite having a good spell of pressure in the latter stages of the second half they managed only four on-target goal attempts in the entire game.

It was a draw that extends Cleverley’s unbeaten start as Interim Head Coach to five games, during which time the Hornets have kept three clean sheets – they managed just two in their previous 20.

“I’m incredibly proud of the group,” said Cleverley.

“We came into the job when the season looked a little bit dead in the water, and you’re staring down the barrel of a tough run of fixtures, and we get a response like we have.

“We’ve had high demands of the players in training and they’ve passed that challenge.

“Then we’ve asked them to give everything for the football club, for themselves and their teammates and they’ve done it yet again.

“Three clean sheets in five is a solid foundation moving forward.”

The clean sheet on Wednesday night was earned by some resolute defending, with bodies thrown in the way and aerial duals won.

Ipswich have scored 84 goals so far this season – an average of two a game – but the Watford rearguard was seldom breached.

“There were huge performances from all five players across the back, plus the goalkeeper,” said Cleverley.

“To a man we were very, very good tonight.

“Mattie Pollock has been excellent in all three starts he’s had under me, and it’s a credit to his character the way he played tonight.

“He did nothing wrong to come out of the team, and neither did Francisco Sierralta.

“I’ve got four top centre halves for this level that I can rotate between three positions, and I did say to the guys there will be times you get rotated out even after a good performance and a clean sheet.

“Sierralta can feel hard done by after a clean sheet against Preston but we have to keep things fresh especially when Saturday will be our fifth game in 16 days.”

The Watford boss also praised the 1,500 fans who made the trip to East Anglia.

“The fans were absolutely excellent again, and we really do feel their presence,” he said.

“It’s not easy to go from Ipswich on a Wednesday night to Southampton on a Saturday and then Middlesbrough at 12.30 on the last day of the season.

“We really feel their support and the hard work that it takes for them to follow us everywhere.

“We know it can be hard work to be a Watford supporter sometimes and we try to repay them with performances they can be proud of, and I think tonight was one of them.

“I didn’t have to remind the players that there are supporters in the ground tonight who will go home from Ipswich on Wednesday night and then go to Southampton on Saturday.

“They were playing for those guys as well.”