Defeat by Crystal Palace underlined the fact that Leicester City's route to the Premier League is far from a direct one.
And Saturday's events at Vicarage Road highlighted the fact that the road is also full of pot-holes, a 2-1 defeat by a mid-table Watford side seeing City slip out of the top two.
They also lost defender Zak Whitbread, who was sent off for a second booking, making him ineligible for tomorrow night's trip to Bolton.
Bluntly, City did not do enough against Watford to take anything from the game.
It was not for a lack of effort or desire, and manager Nigel Pearson went through just about all his options in an attempt to get Leicester back into the game.
But, on a day when Kasper Schmeichel was the busier of the two goalkeepers, the hosts were worth the three points, even in a close-run affair.
They had the men who mattered most. Almen Abdi made vital contributions at either end and the quicksilver Fernando Forestieri was a constant thorn in the side of the City defence, doing what Leicester fans hoped Anthony Knockaert would do for their side.
The pair combined after just 13 minutes, Forestieri's superbly weighted through-ball sending Almen clear to finish in no-nonsense style.
A goal down and barely out of neutral, Leicester were already facing an uphill struggle, and it could have been worse had Schmeichel not dealt capably with efforts from Forestieri and Daniel Pudil.
It was not until the 28th minute that City emerged as an attacking force and, all of a sudden, there was some potency about their play. Ben Marshall brought a smart save from Manuel Almunia, and Wes Morgan's towering header was cleared off the line by Jonathan Hogg.
David Nugent tested Almunia with a low drive and Knockaert's shot was blocked when it appeared goal-bound.
It was better, much better from City, and there was reason to believe that they could carry forward that momentum after half-time.
Lloyd Dyer replaced Danny Drinkwater to give City some pace down the left and, midway through the second half, Pearson turned to a more direct approach as Marko Futacs and Martyn Waghorn were sent into the fray, replacing Knockaert and Marshall.
The plan did not work though and, in the 68th minute, Forestieri was quickest to react after Schmeichel had made a fine save from Pudil and City were two down.
Nugent's unerring left-foot finish at the far post four minutes later rekindled belief in the City ranks, but the equaliser remained tantalisingly out of reach.
Sure, there were a couple of penalty shouts which, on another day, might have gone Leicester's way.
But the day was pretty much done when Whitbread brought down Watford substitute Matej Vydra and received his second yellow from referee Andy D'Urso, six minutes from the end.
Seven minutes of stoppage time, largely due to a nasty clash of heads between Morgan and Liam Moore, did nothing to brighten City's mood.
While Leicester continued to hunt for a second there was always the threat of a third from Watford whenever they looked to counter.
When the final whistle went, the men in blue could have few complaints about the result.
