Rovers are sleepwalking down the table, and rather than talk of being another good run of form away from getting back in play-off contention, the focus now has to be to get to 50 points as quickly as possible.

That is increasingly looking like a long way off after a fifth successive defeat leaves them as close to the bottom three as they are the play-off spots, and needing to salvage something from a season that offered so much early season promise.

Yet Rovers are now looking a shell of that side and with issues all over the pitch, while another slow start at Ewood cost them dear. 

They trailed 2-0 to goals from Joao Pedro and Ismaila Sarr who made the most of Rovers’ generosity, before Harvey Elliott gave the hosts a lifeline moments before the break.  

A bright start to the second half evaporated as Watford soon resumed authority and looked like punishing a Rovers defence almost every time they went forward as the second half wore on.

There was a second lifeline, this time from Ben Brereton, with eight minutes to play, but no grandstand finish was to follow as Rovers’ wait for a point in February continued.

The result leaves them 15th, as close to the relegation spots as they are the top six.

There were four more changes with 10 players unavailable for Tony Mowbray, and a new-look role for Bradley Dack wide on the left. He teed up another of the players recalled, Joe Rothwell, three minutes in, his shot well hit, but straight down the throat of Daniel Bachmann.

It was becoming clear that two sides would have to battle the conditions as much as each other, rain pouring down on what was becoming an increasingly heavy Ewood Park surface.

Good work from Ryan Nyambe saw him bully his way beyond Adam Masina, his pull-back teeing up Adam Armstrong who was quickly crowded out.

Watford were looking the busier, and the more dangerous, however, Ismaila Sarr the undoubted dangerman, while Tom Cleverley was pressing the Rovers midfield into mistakes.

He bent a free-kick over the top in the 19th minute, before Sarr found space in the box to shoot towards the far post, Thomas Kaminski getting his hand to it before Taylor Harwood-Bellis cleared.

The opening goal came soon after though, and Rovers had no-one to blame but themselves. Cleverley’s hooked ball forward looked harmless, but Jarrad Branthwaite stood and appealed for offside while being the man to clearly play Joao Pedro onside, the attacker getting to the ball well before Kaminski who was slow to react, the finish looping into the empty net.

Rovers stood and watched, and things began to unravel fast for the hosts who by this point were second best by a good margin. There was no forward momentum to their play, and it was no surprise the visitors doubled their advantage seven minutes before the break.

It was again a mess from a Rovers perspective, a ball in from the right finding Pedro, and although his shot was saved by Kaminski, Sarr was on hand to hook the ball home from close range.

It looked a long way back for Rovers, but they handed themselves a lifeline two minutes before the break, as Harvey Elliott thumped the ball home from a tight angle, a goal which owed much to the excellent pressing of Joe Rothwell.

Rovers looked to start the second half fast, but were in danger of simply playing into Watford’s hands, Sarr clear down the right to find Ken Sema with his cross, Kaminski across to smother his shot at the near post.

Rovers’ early urgency was disappearing, Watford looking dangerous on the break, and Sema made sure all three attackers had a goal as he added his name to the scoresheet in the 61st minute. Watford played their way through Rovers, it all too easy as Sema shot across Kaminski and into the far corner from the left edge of the box.

Armstrong, on his 150th appearance, wasn’t giving up the fight at least, a bust of speed taking him away from William Troost-Ekong, Bachmann not all that convincing in palming his shot behind.

Another lifeline for Rovers arrived with eight minutes to play, only a fourth goal this season from a set play as one substitute, Stewart Downing, delivered a corner to the far post where the sliding Ben Brereton turned home.

Another Downing set play offered Rovers hope of a last minute equaliser, but Branthwaite couldn’t sort out his feet to turn the ball home.