Ismaïla Sarr had probably never heard of Coventry until he was told last week there is a cup game squeezed in between Premier League fixtures this week, but whatever career he goes onto have in this country with this club – and the expectation and the signs are that it will be a decent one – he will always remember the Sky Blues as the opponents when he got his feet under the table.

The Senegal international was denied the chance to turn Saturday's game on its head because West Ham scored the killer third just as he was receiving his final instructions from Javi Gracia, but he was afforded the chance to shape this one from the outset and he took his chance. He set the Hornets on their way with a nicely-taken goal after 37 minutes and the confidence seemed to surge through the veins of the 21-year-old after that.

There were a couple of turbo-charged runs down the right in the second half and enough to suggest this lad, with some more training, more minutes and further acclimitisation, could add some real stardust to the attacking end of this team. It was quite the night for the team's flair players as Adalberto Peñaranda rattled in a beauty just five minutes after coming on. It would have been the perfect night had Tom Dele-Bashiru scored, as he will have expected to, within minutes of coming on. As it was, three unanswered goals did very nicely indeed and this represented the result everybody needed after the first three matches of the season.

It took a while for the Hornets to get going. There was a slight apprehension and anxiety after Saturday's events and also a getting-to-know-you spell. This, after all, was a newly-figured side trying to establish some cohesion and a rhythm on the hoof. That said, there was still a fair amount of quality on show, with nine full internationals and one in Domingos Quina who is expected to go on and gain full honours.

Quina showed exactly why he is likely to carve out a fine career with a lovely twinkling of the feet and swaying of the hips in the middle of the pitch after just six minutes. He ghosted past two players as if they weren't there and the portents, at the stage, look promising.

There was then a nice move involving Roberto Pereyra and Isaac Success that resulted in Sarr smashing one against a defender and you thought, 'Here we go'. But Coventry weren't in the mood to be dictated to and Callum O'Hare, the schemer on loan from Aston Villa, was proving a real bright spark. He flashed one past the post on 11 minutes and it represented a warning shot being fired across the bows.

The home side just shaded the possession in the first period – 54 per cent to 46 – and with it they fashioned a free-kick that Nathaniel Chalobah flashed wickedly across the face of goal and then Danny Welbeck smashed one over with his left. Chalobah and Welbeck also showed they were not afraid to mix it, with Welbeck dumping a defender on the seat of his pants in front of the dugout and Chalobah crunching into O'Hare. It was exactly the spirit Gracia was after.

It took a while for the Hornets to get going. There was a slight apprehension and anxiety after Saturday's events and also a getting-to-know-you spell. This, after all, was a newly-figured side trying to establish some cohesion and a rhythm on the hoof. That said, there was still a fair amount of quality on show, with nine full internationals and one in Domingos Quina who is expected to go on and gain full honours.

Quina showed exactly why he is likely to carve out a fine career with a lovely twinkling of the feet and swaying of the hips in the middle of the pitch after just six minutes. He ghosted past two players as if they weren't there and the portents, at the stage, look promising.

There was then a nice move involving Roberto Pereyra and Isaac Success that resulted in Sarr smashing one against a defender and you thought, 'Here we go'. But Coventry weren't in the mood to be dictated to and Callum O'Hare, the schemer on loan from Aston Villa, was proving a real bright spark. He flashed one past the post on 11 minutes and it represented a warning shot being fired across the bows.

The home side just shaded the possession in the first period – 54 per cent to 46 – and with it they fashioned a free-kick that Nathaniel Chalobah flashed wickedly across the face of goal and then Danny Welbeck smashed one over with his left. Chalobah and Welbeck also showed they were not afraid to mix it, with Welbeck dumping a defender on the seat of his pants in front of the dugout and Chalobah crunching into O'Hare. It was exactly the spirit Gracia was after.