Troy Deeney admits he deserved to be dropped after coming off the bench to score his 100th Watford goal.

The Hornets captain was left out of the side against Crystal Palace but came on early for the injured Valon Behrami.

Watford were awarded a second-half penalty and there was never any doubt Deeney would be the man as he smashed in the spot-kick to reach his milestone and rescue a 1-1 draw for the hosts.

Deeney told Sky Sports: “It's nice to finally get it done. I’ve been having a stinker recently. I deserved to be dropped but I’m pleased to get the 100th goal.

"It's a huge weight off my shoulders. I think it's one of those where when I retire I'll probably realise how nice it is but I've just got to keep setting targets.

"The main aim was to get back to playing well and I thought I was poor against Sunderland so the gaffer had every right to drop me and I'm no different to anyone else. When I get back on the pitch I want to make sure he doesn't drop me again and thankfully I did that.

"Of course it has [playing on his mind]. Once I scored against Bournemouth everyone got T-shirts made up and this and that. I just wanted to get it out the way and thankfully it's done.

"Most important is the character the boys showed today. The big man [Heurelho Gomes] saving the penalty helped too of course.

“When you aren’t having the best of moments in front of goal I just felt hit the ball as hard as I can and if the keeper gets in the way at least it’s going to hurt so I smashed it down the middle."

Deeney's penalty ended a barren run stretching back to his last goal against Bournemouth in October.