11:23am Sunday 16th December 2007
By Kevin Affleck
AIDY BOOTHROYD declined to use the Al Bangura case as a mitigating factor behind another wretched home display by his stuttering side, insisting the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Plymouth was a "fair result".
"It would be a great opportunity for me to blame the Al Bangura situation, to blame flu and to blame injuries but that is all part of a season," said the manager. "We are professionals and we have to get on with it so I wouldn't use that as an excuse.
"We are very disappointed to have lost the game," he added. "We had enough chances to win but we also had enough warnings to lose it. We didn't heed those warnings and didn't take those chances so therefore it is a fair result."
Boothroyd did little to prevent his side from sliding to yet another home defeat. He took too long to replace the ineffective Tamas Priskin with Nathan Ellington, strangely replaced the lively Lionel Ainsworth at half-time, and played Tommy Smith - Watford's most influential player of late - out of position on the left.
"Lionel came in and did reasonably well," said the manager. "He was never going to come in and be a regular but he reminds me of Aaron Lennon. He has got a bit to do but he'll be a terrific player."
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