Watford manager refuses to blame absence of Manchester United's Tom Cleverley for defeat at Barnsley (From Watford Observer)

Watford manager refuses to blame absence of Manchester United's Tom Cleverley for defeat at Barnsley

3:57pm Monday 8th February 2010

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Malky Mackay believes Watford deserved at least a point at the weekend and refused to use the absence of Manchester United loanee Tom Cleverley as an excuse for the 1-0 defeat to Barnsley.

The Hornets have won just once in their last nine matches but on Saturday were left to rue a number of controversial decisions by referee Fred Graham as they lost to Mark Robins ever-improving side.

Mackay was angry with the official in his post-match press conference after seeing replays of Henri Lansbury being brought down in the area in the first half, with the score 1-0.

But after Emil Hallfredsson had put Barnsley ahead, the Hornets boss was furious when Danny Graham’s header was chalked off due to an apparent foul by the striker - a decision Mackay said the referee would be “embarrassed” about.

In a game of few chances, Lansbury had a free kick excellently saved in injury time and Graham volleyed wide from the resulting corner.

Mackay said: “We came up here and gave a good account of ourselves, in terms of the way the game was. There was not a lot of chances at either end and I think we were deserving of more than we got today [Saturday].”

Watford’s leading scorer Cleverley has been hugely influential in the Hornets’ midfield this season but failed to recover from a knee injury he sustained against Sheffield United last week and was replaced by Jon Harley in the starting line-up at Oakwell.

When asked how big a loss the absence of Cleverley was, Mackay replied: “It allows someone else to come in and I think Jon Harley came in and did very well. I think he balanced the team on the left side of the pitch and put a lot of work in and was certainly going right until the death; he was putting in crosses until the end.

“It is a squad game and that is why the squad is here. One player goes out, another comes in and it is their chance to shine and I think Jon Harley did that.”

To hear the rest of Mackay’s post-match press conference, click here