Captain Tom Cleverley was delighted to be back on the Vicarage Road pitch during a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers, featuring for the Hornets for the first time since August 2022.

Despite the visitors taking a first-half lead through Bradley Dack, Watford remained the more impressive attacking outfit and eventually made their pressure pay as Wesley Hoedt scored on his debut.

Golden Boys midfielder Cleverley felt his side deserved more from the game, but was happy to be back in front of the Watford faithful.

“I think Blackburn Rovers had one real threat and chance in our box and they scored it,” he began. “Up against any team in this league, it’s difficult when you concede the first goal.

“They frustrated us with a lot with their timewasting ploys, but fair credit to them because I thought they were quite decent in the first half and then we really pushed in the second half, but we couldn’t quite get a winner.

“It was really pleasing to be back involved, especially to come back here at home. It’s the first time I’ve played under Slaven Bilić and I’ve been really enjoying the training over the past few weeks, being back with the boys and even the whole experience of travelling and being in the hotel last night. It’s nice to feel like a footballer again.”

Delving deeper into his recovery, Cleverley pointed to his teammates and the club as important factors during his rehab.

He continued: “I tried for six weeks or so to manually treat this injury, but it needed surgery in the end. Now I feel like there is nothing in the way for the rest of my career. It has always been a little niggle of mine, my achilles tendons.

“My teammates, going to Spain with them in November, helped me through it alongside my family and also the medical team at Watford. Lee Stafford especially in the gym gave me a great rehab. I feel as good as ever.”

Being introduced to the action with 20 minutes left to play, the 33-year-old revealed what Head Coach Bilić asked of him in the closing stages. And with further minutes under his belt following his appearance for the Under-21s earlier this week, Cleverley is looking forward to the next few fixtures.

He added: “He asked me to keep the shape, because it turned into basketball in the last period. We want to win which was pleasing to see, and he said let’s keep the pressure on. We did, and I thought that once we scored one we would definitely win the game, so I’m disappointed we didn’t.

“These next few games will be difficult, but we can take confidence with how we have accumulated points over these teams at the start of the season. There are no easy games in this league and hopefully we can pick up some points.”