Ben Wilmot felt Watford's friendly against Tottenham Hotspur was the perfect test ahead of the upcoming season.

The Hornets beat Spurs 2-1 at home in their final warm-up clash, ahead of a busy schedule that could already see Watford play six times in the next four weeks, following the Carabao Cup draw yesterday.

Speaking to the club website, Wilmot said it was exactly the type of game they needed ahead of their game against Middlesbrough this Friday night.

“It was a good performance, we needed a test like that before going into next week’s game, so it was a decent game,” he said.

“We needed it and we’ve been working hard this week on all sorts, defensive shape and movement going forward, and it all seemed to come to play today, so we’re happy with that.

“We’ve been working on defensive shape and movement all week really and the gaffer has brought in a new style of play defensively and asked us to do a few things some of us aren’t really used to. But everyone’s got the hang of it pretty quick and we looked pretty comfortable out there.”

Following a season on loan at Swansea City, Wilmot is pleased to be back at Vicarage Road and is now looking forward to trying to nail down a first-team position for himself.

“I was excited to come back and I’m just raring to go really,” he said.

“I was disappointed to miss last week’s game, but I’ve been training hard for the last two weeks now so I was just glad to get 90 minutes today and I’m looking forward to next week.

“Personally, I want to play every game, and like the rest of the team, I want to go straight back up. If I can do my bit to get us straight back up then happy days, but that’s the overall aim really.

“I know what’s coming and I know what to expect, whereas some people maybe won’t. So in that sense I might be at a slight advantage but everybody’s going to learn quickly and we haven’t got time to not learn really. So, everybody will get used to it and I think we have a right good chance of going straight back up this year.”

After spending some time in the company of his new team-mates, Wilmot believes they have what it takes to haul the Hornets back into the top flight.

“We’ve had a good atmosphere, a few new people have come in and me and a few other people have come back,” he said.

“Everyone seems really keen to impress and do well this season. Last season was what it was, and we’ve all put that behind us. We know the target for this season, it’s pretty straightforward and clear. Everyone’s excited and looking forward to the season.

“It was the perfect game today, we needed a test like that and I think we did perform well. We’ve got to take that into next week now, everyone’s looking forward to it and it should be a good start.”