Watford defender and goalscorer Christian Kabasele was left lamenting his side's inability to defend set pieces after the Hornets conceded from a corner for the eighth time in only 14 games during their 3-1 defeat at West Brom.

Walter Mazzarri's side were well in the game until the 16th-minute opener - if anything, marginally edging it - but were dealt a sucker punch when a routine ball in from Chris Brunt found the head of Jonny Evans, who powered home.

There were mistaken calls from a foul on Heurelho Gomes in the build-up as Kabasele himself was beaten to the ball by the West Brom defender, although there was little that could be done about the second as Brunt fired home a free kick via a wicked deflection off Camilo Zuniga.

A largely good performance from the Hornets was overshadowed by their poor concentration in both boxes, something not lost on the 25-year-old after the game.

"We had this game in our hands, in the beginning," he said. "We had a lot of possession and on their first corner they scored the opener.

"After that, for me the second goal wasn’t a free-kick and somebody touched the ball.

"Without the goals, they didn’t force many saves and it’s frustrating because we didn’t give them a lot of chances but we have conceded three goals.

"It’s another goal from a set piece, and when you concede two goals like this it’s difficult."

The two strikes gave the Hornets an uphill task in the West Midlands, until Kabasele's header on the hour mark looked to give them a shot at a point, maybe more.

But Roberto Pereyra's late red card, and a third goal from in-form Matty Phillips, sent the Hornets back down the M6 with nothing to show from their afternoon.

Kabasele said: "We fought until the last minute to come back, but unfortunately we didn’t.

"It was important to score as quick as possible, because then we had half an hour to come back.

"It’s two sentiments for me; I scored my first goal, but we didn’t win so at the end of the day it’s not a good day for me."

Despite the defeat, the 25-year-old - who has enjoyed a bright few weeks after making his Belgium debut last month - was rightly keen to accentuate the positives from a performance which was a far cry from last week's dismal home defeat by Stoke.

He said: "When you compare the spirit between today and last week, it’s two different teams and we deserved at least a point.

We need to pick up three points [next weekend] because we have a difficult away game at Manchester City so we need the victory."