Nigel Pearson pinpointed small margins as Bristol City left Vicarage Road empty-handed but he was able to take plenty of positives from the 2-0 defeat against Watford.
The visitors fell behind after just six minutes when Cam Pring's clearance ricocheted off striker Harry Cornick from close range and into his own net. City, looking to stretch their unbeaten run to four games, responded positively and enjoyed plenty of dominant spells with the ball during the opening 45 minutes.
Cornick and Pring both went close up the other end while Nahki Wells was also proving to be a threat. City enjoyed 64 per cent of possession in the first half but failed to make their dominance pay.
They started the second half in a similar fashion with Wells seeing an effort superbly tipped around the post from Daniel Bachmann. Then came the sucker-punch just moments later when Joao Pedro was afforded too much space on the edge of the area, unleashing an effort that somehow found its way past keeper Max O'Leary.
Pearson had four strikers on the pitch in the final 15 minutes as he looked for a way back into the game but Watford defended resolutely to lift them within three points adrift of the play-offs.
"We came here with the intention of trying to win today and we had a good go at doing that," Pearson said after the game. "But the margins are very, very small so we’re talking about an own goal and an untidy second goal wins the game for them when we’ve had multiple clear efforts that on another day we take.
"That's how it is. I have to look at what the performance is and the performance was genuinely very good."
Reflecting on the goals conceded, the former Watford manager added: "The first one, I mean poor Harry he just gets a clearance ricochet off him - that's just life. The second one, I can't really give you accurate thoughts on that at the moment because it looked to me like Max was unsighted.
"It was a vicious, dipping shot. They're both scruffy-looking goals, if that's what you mean but I don't have too many complaints today. I think for them as well, they looked as though they were tiring and we were getting on top, physically as well as in a footballing sense.
"That's how it goes. You've got to make the most of opportunities when they come your way. We played well and created opportunities.
"Made the keeper work and he made some good saves but it just didn't turn out the way we wanted although it wasn't through a lack of effort. We played some good football, we played some patient football and created lots of chances.
"We've played well, we've been saying we want the players to continue, to play at full tilt and I don't think anybody could argue that was the case.
"It was a very committed performance. We were quite dominant in some ways but the game is about what you do in both boxes and we didn't take our chances. Bachmann made a couple of really good saves and the goals we conceded, were disappointing."
Defeat leaves City five points better off in comparison to this time last season but without successive away victories for almost a year. They drop one place to 14th and six points adrift of the top half with a trip to promotion-hopefuls Sheffield United to come on Tuesday.
Pearson added: "We’re in a better position whether people want to judge it on just points alone is up to them. When you’re trying to construct a squad, one of the most important things is that you get the technical aspect of it right and we still need to address that. We’ve still got areas of the side that we need to be stronger of course. But in terms of what they bring as a group, we’re getting there.”
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