Billy McKinlay admitted Watford’s attempts to stop Brighton & Hove Albion from controlling possession did hamper their own attacking edge.

The Hornets struggled to create clear-cut chances throughout today’s 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road.

But they also restricted the visitors to few opportunities, before Brighton had a late flurry.

McKinlay said: “I thought in the first half we didn’t create as much as we would have liked. I wanted to make sure the shape of our team was right through the middle of the pitch because Brighton are a very good team who control the game and cause teams all sorts of problems.

“I felt we had to adjust because of that, which we did, because we wanted to make sure we were not over-run in midfield and that probably took away an attacking edge, particularly in the first half.”

Watford took the lead in the 53rd minute through Daniel Tozser’s free-kick before Lewis Dunk equalised from a header with just under a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

McKinlay added: “Up until the goal we had limited them to very little. You could argue we didn’t create as much as we wanted to either, particularly in the first half, but I thought we were in good control of the game at the time.

“I thought the shape of the team was good and the back four were outstanding and the effort was terrific throughout. So from that point of view yes [I would have liked the team to see the game out better].

“Obviously after the goal they had one or two half chances that they might have felt disappointed about not taking.

“But I was really pleased with our performance for a number of reasons.”

Watford have a long-standing problem with defending set pieces but McKinlay, who only became head coach on Monday, initially downplayed the nature of Dunk’s goal, which came from a corner.

McKinlay said: “I felt up until the goal they didn’t cause us too many problems. We limited them to not many chances so for that point of view I was happy with how we defended.

“Once the goal went in their tails went up and they created one or two chances after that. But up until then our shape and organisation was pretty good.”

When it was put to him that it was a simple goal to concede, he did acknowledge: “Every goal you lose, you are disappointed with – whether it is the two against Blackburn on Saturday, the one against Brentford on Tuesday or the one today.

“The timing of the goal probably accentuates that a bit but it (the type of goal conceded) is something we need to look at.”

Click here for today's match report, while Sami Hyypia's post-match thoughts can be read here.