Vladimir Ivic felt Watford produced too little too late as they fell to their first home defeat of the season against Cardiff City.

The head coach said he had seen an improvement from his players after the half time break, but was unimpressed with their passive start to the game, during which they conceded the game's only goal.

The Hornets would have hoped to have produced more with 2,000 fans returning to Vicarage Road for the first time since February, but it was not to be.

"It's not good," said Ivic. "Especially because of our fans who have been with us for the first time after a long period. We didn't do our job in the way how we wanted.

Watford Observer:

"We didn't start good and it's not first time. If I compare now the first and second half there is a big difference. We need to start from the first second of the game to have passion, to work hard, to fight but it's not looking like that, especially in the first 45 minutes.

"After that we we pushed our opponent, we tried. Our problem is our game because if we played the first 45 minutes like we did the second, and we lost the game, we don't have some something to tell."

A few boos echoed around both the Rookery End and the Family Stand at full time, with the returning supporters underwhelmed by what they had seen.

Ivic however said he understood the fans' frustrations and that he was also not a happy person come the final whistle.

"I agree, I said from the beginning, no one from us is happy," he said. "First of all, because of our performance, especially in the first 45 minutes.

"Most for our fans who have been with us tried to support us and they have supported us until the end. But again, it's not a good result. No one from us is happy because of  what's happened.

"We now need to think about next one now and to to recover the players and to fight for the next three points."