The disappointment remains after Watford’s FA Cup semi-final defeat yesterday at Wembley but at 12.15pm one year ago the Hornets were kicking off on the south coast at the start of a remarkable day that was to end in very different emotions.

Watford began the day top of the Championship after beating Birmingham City 1-0 in their previous outing but the margin for error was minimal heading to the Amex Stadium to face Brighton & Hove Albion.

Golden Boys boss Slavisa Jokanovic opted to field a 3-5-2 formation but it quickly became evident it wasn’t working. In the 25th minute the Serbian acted; off went Ikechi Anya, on came Daniel Tozser and the visitors switched to a 4-4-2 diamond shape.

Within a matter of minutes Watford were in front, Troy Deeney lashing home after some fine support work by Odion Ighalo.

Despite going behind, Brighton’s threat remained before the break and Heurelho Gomes had to make an excellent stop to prevent Chris O’Grady from equalising.

The Hornets improved after the break, but they were unable to kill off the game. It result in an incredibly tense finale as O’Grady and Craig Mackail-Smith both spurned chances to equalise. Then in the fourth minute of injury time Craig Cathcart thumped a clearance downfield. But it turned into so much more than pressure-relieving moment.

Deeney did very well to retain possession and looking to his left across the pitch, he spotted Matej Vydra in acres of space. A curled pass found its target and the Czech Republic took two touches before beating David Stockdale to cue delirious scenes amongst the travelling army of 3,199 Hornets fans.

Watford had done their bit but the drama was only just beginning.

The Hornets knew that a defeat for Middlesbrough at Fulham and anything other than a victory for Norwich City at Rotherham United would guarantee a top-two finish.

By the time the Watford fans were either heading home, had found a spot in a bar or were along the beach it was approaching half-time in the other two games. Boro were behind to Fulham but the Canaries’ game with Rotherham was goalless.

It couldn’t happen, could it?

Then within the next 25 minutes, Watford fans went from ecstasy - as Fulham scored a penalty to go two goals to the good - to disappointment when Norwich went ahead at Rotherham.

It started to look like it was all going wrong when Boro pulled one back but Fulham kept going to score a second penalty and seal one of the two required results. Or so they thought.

Middlesbrough brought it back to 3-2 and then 3-3 and Watford’s hopes of securing promotion that day started to fade.

A glimmer of hope appeared when Jordan Bowery levelled for Rotherham against Norwich to turn the afternoon on its head again.

Then for some inexplicable reason, Boro decided to send goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos up for a last-gasp corner.

The ball was cleared and arrived at the feet of Ross McCormack, who drove towards the goal as Konstantopoulos rushed back to his box.

The Fulham striker rounded him and placed the ball into the net to complete his hat-trick to seal the 4-3 win to send Watford on their way to promotion. But the final whistle had yet to blow at Rotherham.

The next few minutes felt like an age and then it came. Rotherham had held Norwich to a draw at the New York Stadium and the Hornets were back in the Premier League after an eight-year absence.

Social media was swamped with videos of the Hornets players reacting on their team coach heading back to London Colney as the cameras raced to meet them there, before they enjoyed a night celebrating with the fans in Watford.

It was an incredible day.