Comeback wins often tell you more than routine home victories. They point to belief, bench impact and a team still carrying attacking conviction after a setback. If the report is accurate, Kayembe and Doumbia gave Watford exactly that: a route back into the game and then the decisive moment to finish it.
In a division as volatile as the Championship, momentum can change quickly. A narrow home win does not solve everything, but it can steady a dressing room and sharpen the sense that results are there to be taken if the intensity holds.
The scoreline hurts, but the trend hurts more. Five defeats in six is not just a blip; it is the kind of run that starts to shape the conversation around form, confidence and control. Teams on that kind of sequence often look caught between caution and urgency, and that is usually when matches drift away from them.
For Heckingbottom, the immediate task appears straightforward even if the fix is not: stop games turning against his side and restore a baseline level of reliability.
For Watford, the next challenge is turning a spirited comeback into a sequence. Back-to-back positive results would give this win real weight. For Preston, the next fixture already feels significant. Another defeat would deepen the scrutiny; a response would at least interrupt a damaging run and change the tone of the week.