Keeper Daniel Bachmann echoed what most Watford fans were saying or thinking after Sheffield United scored on Saturday: what was Oli McBurnie doing in that much space from a set play?

The 6ft 2ins Scottish international striker is renowned for his ability in the air, and is the fulcrum of the Sheffield United attack.

However, when a corner came over in the 73rd minute, somehow McBurnie had taken a stroll to the back of the six-yard box without any company, and his header then deflected in off Ryan Porteous for the only goal of the game

“I just think the goal we’ve conceded, again, is utterly frustrating,” said Bachmann.

“To leave their best header of the ball completely unmarked? It’s not like he’s had to work hard to get half a yard – there was nobody near him.

“He’s their best header of a ball and he’s got yards of space at the back of the box. He heads it across and it wasn’t even a header at goal. He’s headed down and back across.

“Joao tried to have a swing at it and missed it, and Ryan is reacting to the situation. The ball hits both his knees, first the inside of his left knee then onto the right one, and bounced between my legs.

“It was a bad goal to concede. You cannot leave a player like Oli McBurnie that unmarked.”

As head coach Slaven Bilic said, even had Watford kept that out, their lack of penetration at the other end meant the game was heading towards stalemate.

“We got into really good areas and kept the ball well for the majority of the game. We had the ball around their box for good periods of time,” said Bachmann.

“But the end product isn’t there. I don’t think Wes Foderingham has had a save to make today.

“We had a couple of headers but I don’t think there was anything you could really say was us looking close to scoring a goal.

“It gets very frustrating because when you’ve had a lot of the ball in very good areas, but then can’t get a shot away or find that final pass, it does make things that much harder.

“With a win we could have put pressure on Sheffield United and the other teams around us, and that adds to the frustration.

“But we’ve got 12 games left, and we have to pick ourselves up and get on with it.”

The Austrian keeper said that at no point did United, who are second in the table, dominate the Hornets.

“They had a few chances,” he said.

“Their lad was just offside for the disallowed header, and just before the actual goal there had been three or four occasions where they threatened.

“But there was never a point where they outplayed us or they were getting loads of clear goalscoring opportunities.”