Craig Cathcart insists Watford were not affected mentally by their defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday and still have enough momentum to keep them in the Premier League this season.

Speaking at Selhurst Park after the match, the defender said the confidence they have gained since Nigel Pearson's arrival has been key to their push for top flight survival and that last week's win over Liverpool was an example of what they are capable of producing when they are at their best.

While he did not think the performance against Palace was particularly bad, Cathcart admitted the Hornets were frustrated by the Eagles' game plan.

"We've shown what we can do, last week is an example of that," he said.

"I think with the confidence that we've taken since the manager's come in, we've kept the momentum, we've tried to perform well every game and we'll try to do that for the rest of the season.

"Obviously [Palace] it's a different team, they play a little bit more direct than Liverpool so there's more second balls, so it's hard to judge the intensity. We've come away disappointed not to get anything because I think the performance wasn't too bad and I think we were a little bit unlucky at times."

After suggesting Watford were not as clinical as they could have been in the game, Cathcart said Pearson was disappointed by the team not taking their chances and felt that the scoreline at half-time was not reflective of events on the pitch.

"He was frustrated. At half-time he was disappointed that we weren't level or even ahead," the defender said of his head coach.

"I think we tried to build momentum, we got in behind them a couple of times, but they defended well and we didn't get the bounce of the ball sometimes as well.

"We have to take the negatives and positives now and move on."