Mark Lillis was proud of the Huddersfield Town players for their display at Vicarage Road this afternoon but he couldn’t hide his disappointment following the 4-2 defeat against ten-man Watford.

The Terriers would have fancied themselves to go on secure a much-needed win when Gabriel Tamas was sent off with 25 minutes of normal time remaining after Harry Bunn and Murray Wallace had both equalised after the Hornets had twice gone in front through Troy Deeney and Almen Abdi.

But the visitors quickly found themselves behind again following the red card when Keith Andrews headed the hosts in front for a third time, before Abdi made sure of the win for Beppe Sannino’s high-flyers by ending a fine counter-attacking move in injury-time with an equally impressive strike.

Commenting on his emotions, the Huddersfield caretaker boss said: “Mass disappointment because we’ve come here, we’ve had a game plan. I thought we were magnificent against a really top team who’s going to do well this season; they’re up there already.

“Gutted really, especially one of the decisions where Harry’s (Bunn) got pushed in the back and I think that made it 2-1. We got a momentum and then we’ve come back, we’ve some character again to get to 2-2. We’re disappointed with the headed goal, we’ve got to take more responsibility, but we’ll look at that on Monday and we’ll have to name names and learn from it.

“But I thought it was a great game, I really enjoyed it. It was end to end, 22 guys having a right go at it to get a result but the Championship – I’ve been in it now for four games – is cruel and people will make you pay for your mistakes if you slip, you go to sleep a little bit and bang, it’s a goal.

“But with the performance, I thought they were fantastic. The players, the last four league games for me have been unbelievable.”