Tom Cleverley was right. It is almost impossible to write about yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to Norwich without referee Lewis Smith being front and centre.

One of the youngest officials to have taken control of a Premier League game at the age of 30, Smith’s first time officiating a Championship game was at Vicarage Road on the last day of the 2022/23 season when Stoke were the visitors.

Yesterday, pretty much every key moment in the game involved Smith and his colleagues: sending off Vakoun Bayo, not spotting Josh Sargent was possibly offside for the only goal, turning down a Watford penalty and then not dismissing Ryan Andrews.

The Hornets got the worst of three of the four, although it has to be said Norwich had good cause to claim Smith could have reduced their hosts to nine men.

Let’s get to the Bayo red card, which Mr Smith told Tom Cleverley at half-time was for an elbow to the throat.

It wasn’t an elbow. It wasn’t in the throat. But Bayo’s actions were stupid enough, bearing in mind he was only yards away from the official and the corner hadn’t been taken, to give the referee the opportunity to make a mistake.

Indeed, having been barged into by Emiliano Marcondes, Bayo even glances over towards Mr Lewis before then thrusting the palm of his hand into the chest of the Norwich player.

A still captures the moment of contact between Bayo and Marcondes (Image: X)

It was madness from Bayo and, while it wasn’t an elbow to the throat, he did enough to allow Marcondes the chance to invite a red card by hitting the deck and holding his throat.

The Watford striker isn’t an inexperienced teenager. He’s 28 with more than 200 career appearances and international caps to his name.

Even allowing for the provocation of the barge from Marcondes, what Bayo did next was indefensible. Had he not done it, he wouldn’t have been sent off. Simple as that.

Of course, Mr Lewis clearly didn’t see an elbow to the throat, and that may be something which works in Watford’s favour if they do appeal.

But the red card was a pivotal moment in the game, especially when the only alternative on the bench is a raw teenage striker.

Up to that point, Norwich had edged the game although it was looking to be an entertaining affair.

Jonathan Bond had made an excellent close-range save to deny Sargent and then clawed away a Jacob Sorensen header from a corner.

'We didn't have a referee that understood the game'

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At the other end, Andrews did extremely well to abruptly halt a sprint into the box, creating room for a cross which Bayo peeled away from his marker to meet unchallenged but sent his header over the bar.

Despite the very mixed opinions about Bayo, removing any outfield player causes disruption and clearly leaves the opposition with a player advantage.

Yet Watford had seemingly sorted themselves out and readjusted their 10 men when Mr Lewis stepped in again six minutes later.

The ball broke loose just outside the Watford box, Lewis Dobbin had a touch but didn’t get it under control and Edo Kayembe tried to get in between Dobbin and the ball.

The pair collided, Dobbin fell and rolled into the box, and instantly lifted his head to see where the referee was.

Mr Lewis awarded Norwich a free kick, which Marcondes drove into the wall.

He was still trying to convince the referee of a handball as his teammate Lucien Mahovo acrobatically volleyed the loose ball goalwards.

Bond had to readjust from tracking the initial strike, managed to get a hand to the ball, but it landed at the feet of the unmarked Sargent who tapped into an empty net.

Is Sargent offside when the ball is struck? (Image: YouTube)

Replays show that Sargent appeared to be offside as Mahovo connected with the ball, and when it entered the net the Norwich players nearest to the action all turned to look across at the linesman.

It’s a tight call, but just as with the free-kick that led to the goal, the Hornets got the thin end of the wedge.

Does Sargent look onside from this angle? (Image: YouTube)

Then, as the first half moved into stoppage time, tremendous work from James Abankwah to first win the ball, then stride out of defence and finally see a defence-splitting pass sent Giorgi Chakvetadze racing clear on the left.

His first touch was good, his second a bit heavy – and that convinced Norwich keeper Angus Gunn to accelerate off his line.

The pair converged on the ball – which didn’t change direction – and Chakvetadze fell while Gunn rolled over and held his face.

After the game, Cleverley described it as a ‘50/50 call’, and it is certainly one of those situations where you’d say ‘you’ve seen them given’.

This one wasn’t, and coming on top of the red card, the free kick and the offside, it guaranteed Mr Smith and his colleagues a hostile reception at half-time.

Despite playing either side of the interval without a recognised centre forward, Watford were organised enough and worked hard enough to nullify the visitors’ numerical advantage.

They weren’t peppering the goal, but they had enough possession and worked hard in the press, ensuring Norwich couldn’t just stroll through the game.

Does Gunn get the ball? (Image: YouTube)

Indeed, Watford passed up – literally – a glorious chance to level early in the second half.

The industrious and impressive Imran Louza saw and perfectly executed a chance to dispossess Kenny McLean on the corner of the Canaries box, and the ball ran perfectly for Chakvetadze who, with Gunn out position, had about two-thirds of an empty goal to aim at.

Instead, he checked inside and ended up giving the ball to Tom Dele-Bashiru, who teed up Kayembe. The midfielder’s shot cleared the bar from several feet, but by then four outfield players and Gunn were between him and the net.

It was Chakvetadze who had the best chance, and that is the one aspect of his game that he must work on – decision making.

He is often accused of a lack of end product, but that’s not true: he has created plenty in a season where he has been outstanding and opposition managers and media regularly sing his praises.

The Georgian is brilliant at carrying the ball, has a sixth sense when it comes to being aware of defenders, and that his runs and passes don’t lead to as much as they should is not purely a problem for him – he can only pass or cross to those in the team.

Why didn't Giorgi shoot? (Image: YouTube)

However, where he does let himself down is with his decisions, as too often he’ll pass when he should shoot, or shoot when he should pass.

Yesterday’s chance fell in the former category: when the ball ran to him in the area, even a scuffed shot anywhere to the left of goal would have probably gone past Gunn and needed some sort of dramatic intervention from a defender.

That he turned away from goal was a poor decision, but his end product can’t purely be judged on goals and assists.

Towards the end of the game Sargent broke away on the left and although Andrews got across he clipped the striker, who fell inside the box.

It wasn’t a penalty and while Andrews didn’t appear to be trying to bring Sargent down, when the Norwich man fell he had only Bond between him and goal as Mattie Pollock was a yard behind and a couple more to the right.

This time Mr Smith gave Watford a reprieve, but it didn’t change the balance of his decisions in the game overall.

It was the first time Watford have lost at home ‘to nil’ in almost exactly a year, since Cardiff won 1-0 at Vicarage Road on February 3, 2024.

And it was a fourth straight home defeat to boot – that rampaging start to the season which saw Watford win four on the spin at Vicarage Road felt further away than a few months, though they were all achieved in the warmth of August, and not on a bitterly cold February afternoon.

They were also achieved with a squad that had gaps in some areas, and was stretched to the sinew in others - and it's got lighter since.

Yesterday the Hornets had no Baah or Vata. While Daniel Jebbison offered very little while at the club, he returned to Bournemouth three weeks ago and no replacement has come in.

The most inexperienced player in the starting XI was also the only outfield player recruited in the January transfer window.

Abankwah had a very good game but, with a squad that has lacked depth and competitive experience since the summer, it is ridiculous that with some 36 hours left to add to it, the only outfield arrival so far has been a 21-year-old from a sister club who was playing just the 16th senior game of his career since leaving Irish football two and a half years ago.

There was a new goalkeeper on the bench, but read Cleverley’s words carefully: “He was someone we identified as having the qualities that we’re looking for in a goalkeeper.”

It wasn’t a name that had been identified – it was more he had the qualities the club were looking for. The chances that Cleverley had the name Egil Selvik on his list of preferred goalkeeping signings are so slim as to be no-existent.

Still, Watford did well to prise him away from Udinese, bearing in mind they had only signed him three weeks earlier . . .

Selvik is a full international though, and could turn out to be a superb piece of business. But when the two players brought in during the first 31 days of the window are both from the club owned by the same family as your own, it’s not difficult to be just a tad cynical.

That family is the Pozzos, obviously, and it was a name which rang out around Vicarage Road yesterday.

Bursts of “Gino Pozzo, get out of our club” around the 75th minute were interspersed with “sign a striker” before “We want Gino out” took a turn.

It’s been some years since anti-ownership songs were heard that loudly at Vicarage Road, and though there has been dissent aimed at the current owner before, yesterday cranked it up a fair few notches.

While the club has had some questionable characters holding the keys to the stadium (if not to the safe) in the years since, the antipathy from the fans towards the boardroom is heading towards Jack Petchey times.

A few words issued a week ago backing Cleverley need to be followed by actions every bit as much a week later.

Of course we have no idea what the owner’s targets or ambitions were for this season because he seldom speaks to the fans and never to the media – not in England, anyway.

But sporting director Gian Luca Nani, when asked last week about the targets for this season, said “Our target was to create a good environment and to play good football.”

That being the case, Cleverley has a big tick against environment as evidenced by the progression of the likes of Pollock, Baah and Chakvetadze, the reincorporating of Louza and the rekindled connection between playing staff, team and fans.

Good football is more subjective, but it’s fair to say that what has been served up this season has generally been better than anything else in the last three seasons.

So, that’s a second tick if not a huge one, and if Nani’s targets are those of the owner too, then Cleverley has hit them and also thrown in an unexpected play-off tilt as a bonus.

Sadly, the latter is ebbing away as injuries and suspensions bite, leaving Watford’s bench yesterday looking like what you might expect for a pre-season friendly and not for a Championship game.

Regardless of views on those songs about the owner, and whether the outstanding work in the first half of his time at the club can carry what has happened in the second half, it has to be massively concerning that anyone who is seeking success and understands football can allow more than 95% of the one in-season opportunity to address squad issues to pass without adequately doing so?

There’s the old adage that a good workman doesn’t blame his tools – the problem for Cleverley is his toolbox has been missing key components since August and you can only smash screws into walls with a club hammer for so long before the lack of a serviceable screwdriver starts to affect the quality of your workmanship.

A referee can, with poor decisions in one 90-minute period as shown yesterday, end up with a whole stadium singing his name for all the wrong reasons.

We now enter a 30-hour period which will very likely decide what songs the owner gets to hear at future home games.