Roy Hodgson felt Watford were unlucky to lose 4-1 against Crystal Palace and said that his side were not outplayed, despite the scoreline.

The defeat was a seventh consecutive home loss, with two goals either side of half time sending the Hornets second bottom of the table. 

However, the manager still felt his side offered more to the game than the scoreline suggests.

"We were hoping to to build on the good result from the weekend at home in another game," said Hodgson "But unfortunately we we didn't. We were punished quite heavily for the few defensive mistakes we made in and around our box.

"I don't honestly believe it was a 4-1 game. I didn't think that at 2-1, when we were still trying our best to get back into the game, it looked as though we were going to lose it 4-1.

"But unfortunately, these things do happen. We tried our best for an equaliser during the second half, passed the ball around reasonably well, but the game is about goals. When they got the ball in and around our penalty area, without creating lots and lots of chances, they scored four of the chances they created."

Asked if conceding a second goal just before half time affected his time, having managed to equalise immediately after conceding the opener, Hodgson disagreed and said his team didn't look vastly inferior, in his opinion.

"I think that had we gone out in the second half and been totally outplayed by Crystal Palace and really been pushed back and not been able to get on the front foot and to pass the ball like we did on occasions, I would agree that that could have been a crucial blow," he said. 

"But I think the players got over that and came out in the second half and really tried to play.

"We certainly weren't inferior, in terms of our build up play between the two penalty boxes. The major difference was what Palace did when they got the ball in and around our penalty area and what we did when we got the ball in and around theirs.

"Unfortunately, that's the difference between a team that's going well, and is heading towards the top of the table, and a team that's trying to get out of the bottom three."