A point gained or two dropped? We will only truly answer at the end of the season so judgement should be reserved right now.

A draw on the road should never be sniffed at, particularly at this cold and demanding time of the season, but the trouble is the one here against Coventry is viewed through the prism of the previous four stalemates on the road and came against the backdrop of a surprise home defeat at the start of the week. A point on your travels is okay if you are winning at home, but the defeat to QPR on Monday ramped up the pressure on this one and the much-needed win that would offset the disappointment of that loss never materialised.

Still, looking at it with a glass half full attitude, which is so important in these difficult and uncertain times, the Hornets gained a point on leaders Norwich in this round of matches and are still right in the thick of the shake up with 18 games remaining and 54 points to play for. No team gets promoted without a solid base to work from and the Hornets have just that. Conceding just nine on the road in 14 games is no mean feat. Yes, everyone will agree there is plenty of work to be done at the other end of the field, as seven goals on the road is not commensurate with a team of this attacking quality, but leaders Norwich have only scored four more than the Golden Boys this season, although they have spread their goals much better between home and away.

It is also worth noting the team have one more point than they did at this stage of the season six years ago, but Head Coach Xisco Muñoz was dead right afterwards when he said the team “need to get better performances.” He will have wanted more than four of the team's 28 touches in the opposition box to have come in the first half.

It was difficult to argue with the feeling that the first half was nearly all Coventry, especially when it came to attempts on goal. They fashioned nine in the opening 45 minutes, with most of their chances arriving from headers following crosses from the right. Gustavo Hamer planted one straight at Daniel Bachmann after scoring from much, much further out at Vicarage Road against Ben Foster. Dominic Hyam looked like he should have scored at the far post, but Hamer's cross took a decisive flick off the head of Adam Masina and meant the ball didn't land flush on his head. Maxime Biamou then headed one downwards on the run and just past the post following a raid down the right from Julien Da Costa. Bachmann was by far the busier of the two keepers and had to get down, albeit quite routinely, to keep one out from Callum O'Hare after he pickpocketed Jeremy Ngakia.

Ngakia was annoyed with himself as that lapse was at odds with a very decent first half from the summer signing, who was restored to his preferred right-back slot. He picked out an arcing run from Andre Gray with a pass from deep, one the striker used to attempt a chip over Marko Marosi, forcing the home keeper to backpedal and tip over. Ngakia also let fly from distance, with his apparent weaker left foot, and saw a rising shot whistle over.

Muñoz would have been the happier of the two coaches at the break in terms of the result, but not in terms of the performance. He would have demanded more and got a bit of a response at the start of the second when Troy Deeney fed one through the middle of the Coventry backline only for Gray and Ismaïla Sarr to get in each other's way.

Coventry were more cohesive and Hamer, Sam McCallum, Hyam and O'Hare all forced further saves from Bachmann, although none of the efforts had the Austrian keeper at full stretch. It took the introduction of Will Hughes for the Hornets to come to life at the attacking end of the pitch. He came on in the 73rd-minute and his promptings and control of the key midfield area were a factor in the team's best spell of the game. Sarr dragged one across the face of goal with his left foot, second-half substitute João Pedro forced a save from Marosi and then Deeney did superbly to direct a cross from Ngakia onto the bar with clever use of his body and head.

Muñoz went for broke at the end by throwing on Stipe Perica in the hope he could engineer a breakthrough, like he did here against Birmingham before Christmas, but it didn't happen and never really threatened to. This was, all in all, one to quickly forget. The big positive was that it didn't end in defeat and we may, just may, look back at the end of the season and say it was a point gained.