Troy Deeney says the fact Watford’s fans and players were bitterly disappointed to lose 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur, despite having ten men, shows just how far the club has come in the space of a year.

The Hornets were beaten by Spurs at Vicarage Road yesterday but it required an 89th minute winner - which should’ve been ruled out for offside – for Mauricio Pochettino’s side to see the battling Golden Boys off.

The defeat left Watford eighth in the Premier League at the halfway point of the season.

Quique Sanchez Flores’ side have accumulated 29 points and only a dramatic loss of form can stop them from ensuring survival.

Rewind to this point a year ago and the Hornets were fifth in the Championship and their last home game had ended in a dour 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Things have certainly changed.

“It’s a mark if how far we’ve come in such a short space of time that we’re disappointed not to have drawn with Tottenham, or even nicked a win right at the end,” Deeney said.

“We’ve just come up a little bit short but it was only a year ago we were losing to Wolves. So we’ve got to re-evaluate and take the positives.”

Tensions were running high at the end of yesterday’s game due to a number of questionable decisions from referee Anthony Taylor.

The official sent of Nathan Ake for a high challenge on Erik Lamela before Son Heung-min scored late on for Spurs despite being well offside in the build-up.

Deeney is never afraid to give his honest opinion when speaking to the press.

So what did he think about Taylor’s performance?

“I can feel panic stations kicking in now (for Watford’s media team),” Deeney joked.

“I thought the red card wasn’t a red card. If the referee books Dele Alli for being out of control in the first half -which I thought was actually a really good tackle - then Nathan has also got to be out of control - unless he (Taylor) thinks he’s done it on purpose.

“If that is the referee’s viewpoint he has got it massively wrong. He said Nathan’s caught him (Lamela) on his knee but there is no mark on him.

“The frustrating thing for me, and perhaps it’s because I’m a bit old school, as soon as the red card comes out he’s jumping up and down and runs off.

“It frustrates me in today’s football that ten people can run to the referee screaming for someone to be sent off.

“But supposedly we’re 'little Watford' and teams are meant to be running all over us. So why do you need to get our man sent off?”