Another nil-nil on the road, the fourth of the season but this was not like the rest.

There was an energy about this one, a feeling that it was two points lost rather than a point gained and a gut reaction that the Hornets will be alright if they play like this more often than not away from Vicarage Road. You could argue they played better than they did at Stoke, although Millwall were eight places lower in the table than the opponents on Friday night. They had more shots at goal, forced more corners and their attacking play was far more cohesive.

They just couldn't find a breakthrough, however hard they tried and pressed on a pudding of a pitch at The Den. The Lions were definitely the much happier of the two sides with the result and sat in for a point in the last ten minutes. A draw wasn't what the in-form Golden Boys came for but it did lift them up to the second promotion spot and extended their little run to one defeat in six and one goal against in four games. Xisco Muñoz has now harvested 13 points from six games and he would have taken that when he turned up in the wake up of the away defeat to Huddersfield.

It was another controlled first-half performance from the Hornets. They played largely on the front foot, were certainly the more progressive of the two sides and this was definitely the most purpose and intent they had played with in a full first half on the road this season. There was a real willingness to do the hard yards first, evidenced by Ismaïla Sarr pressurising Jake Cooper into a hurried pass that went out for a Watford goal-kick, a piece defensive play that earned a tap of appreciation from Troy Deeney. The captain was later on seen back in the left-back spot lending a hand. That sort of base is exactly what Muñoz will have wanted his team to lay.

From there, they made most of the running. Andre Gray tried to pick out Deeney with a cut-back from the right; there was a nice bit of interplay between Tom Cleverley, Nathaniel Chalobah and Deeney on the edge of the box; Shaun Hutchinson hit his own post from a dangerous Cleverley free-kick; Gray fired over left-footed on the turn and then Sarr almost forced one through the keeper's legs.

You felt if the first-half goal was to come, and a seventh half-time stalemate on the road to be avoided, then it would be the visitors who would conjure one up, but then, out of nowhere really, Jake Cooper toweringly headed one against the post and then had another ruled out on the stroke of half-time. It was the evidence Muñoz needed to remind his players at the break of the precarious nature of this one.

There was more of the same at the start of the second half, with a terrific double tackle by Will Hughes and a thumping clearance header from Deeney deep in his own box further evidence of the desire to roll up sleeves. The Spaniard gave it 15 minutes, witnessing a shot on the angle from Gray, before he sent for João Pedro and Philip Zinckernagel in a bold double switch. The intent was clear. A point would not suffice. Zinckernagel was straight into the thick of things and unleashed one from distance that took a deflection for a corner.

Nathaniel Chalobah followed that up with one from distance that Bartosz Białkowski could only parry and then the Polish stopper made a scrambling save from Deeney's overhead kick follow-up. That was really as close as the visitors came, despite plenty of huff and puff. The encouraging thing was no-one who trudged across the pitch towards the away dressing room at full-time was happy with a point. Muñoz demands more and has raised expectations.