Abdoulaye Doucoure admitted Watford's inability to score when they were on top was fatal as an improving Leicester saw them off 3-0 at the King Power Stadium yesterday.

Doucoure, one of Watford's better performers in the East Midlands, and his team-mates were the better side in open play of the opening half-hour - only to fall behind to a sloppy goal from a corner.

Set pieces were an issue all day for the Hornets, and have been for most of the season under Walter Mazzarri, and left Doucoure frustrated by the way his side had thrown away their good early work.

He said: "The score was very heavy. We deserved more, we had a good first half but we didn’t score during our best spell and then one mistake from a corner gives Leicester a goal.

"We work hard on the training ground on set-pieces, but today we made a mistake, didn’t concentrate, and that was the goal.

"We deserved more, we had a good first half but we didn’t score during our best spell and then one mistake from a corner gives Leicester a goal."

Doucoure also conceded the side had dropped their heads after Riyad Mahrez's second goal, shortly before the hour mark, and could have fallen further behind long before Marc Albrighton added a third in stoppage time.

"After Mahrez’s goal our concentration dropped and it’s very hard when you lose 3-0 away," he said.

"At home we’ve played well, the fans back us, but here we played a good game but did not score at the important moment and after that it was difficult because Leicester are very good, especially on the counter-attack.

"You have to finish well; we’re not safe mathematically, we have to be at our best on the pitch, keep our heads up, and try to be better."