Watford have suffered another injury blow with Mat Sadler joining Grzegorz Rasiak in the treatment room for at least a month.

The Hornets left-back missed Saturday's comeback victory over Ipswich Town after sustaining damage to a lateral knee ligament in the last minute of extra-time in the Carling Cup win over Darlington.

This setback comes after on-loan Southampton striker Rasiak suffered a broken bone in his shoulder during his debut substitute appearance in the home win over Charlton last month.

Aidy Boothroyd called the former Birmingham City defender's loss a "blow", but the international break has given the manager an opportunity to consider his options for that position before the Hornets' Championship campaign resumes at Sheffield Wednesday a week tomorrow (Saturday).

Although Jordan Parkes was given the nod at the weekend, Watford had a more assured look about them defensively when the youngster was substituted at the interval and Jon Harley dropped back from his left-side midfield berth.

But Boothroyd admitted he sympathised with the 19-year-old when reflecting on the contrast in the performance level shown by his team in the two halves against the Tractor Boys.

"It was a good second half, but a shocking first-half if you want to put it in perspective," he said. "It went from one extreme to the other, but with losing Mat I didn't want to unbalance the midfield (by moving Harley to left-back).

"If you sign a player you've got to give him a chance, but Jordan was unfortunate because he was up against a very good player and he didn't get a lot of help, I have to say.

"In the second half with Jon going to left-back and John-Joe coming on, it made a massive difference. Then right at the end we went to win the game and we put Liam up front to put some enthusiasm up there," he added, before pointing out that it was Henderson closing down that led to the throw-in from which the Hornets regained possession, Jobi McAnuff shot and O’Toole scored the winner.

"If we hadn't have won that game I would have been absolutely devastated afer the chances we had," Boothroyd continued. "It took a lot of belief and the crowd played a massive part.

"They have not had much to shout about, but we've now won four on the spin at home and we need to keep that going.

"We've lost key players and the response has been absolutely fantastic. Considering the summer the start we've made has been terrific."

But although Watford have won four games in succession at Vicarage Road for the first time in almost a year, Boothroyd would not be drawn when asked if he thought the home hoodoo had been laid to rest.

The Hornets won only one of their last eight home games last season and the manager said: "I think the thing that cost us and the difference between last year and the one before that, taking out the Premiership season, was drawing games.

"We had a 13-game unbeaten run and drew eight. I would rather have lost five and won eight," he explained, pointing out that the extra points gained would have seen the Hornets automatically promoted.

"My thoughts are that from past experiences here it is better to win and take the risk than draw."

If it was a risk to pitch O'Toole into the fray at half-time on Saturday, then it reaped handsome rewards. But while "a lot of thought" goes into those changes, Boothroyd observed that the perception of whether they are 'good' changes or not very much depends on the outcome.

"If substitutes come on and they don't work out then you don't know what you're doing, you're foolish, but if they do work you're a genius," he remarked.

"I think on occasions last year when we went to win the game teams counter-attacked us, but this time we went to win the game and it paid off. The momentum and crowd were with us and we kept creating chances."