3:57pm Monday 8th February 2010
By Frank Smith
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
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