Watford midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru felt that the Hornets deserved more from a tightly-contested 0-0 draw with Hull City on a bitterly cold afternoon at Vicarage Road.

The 23-year-old made his first start for the Golden Boys in the Sky Bet Championship against the Tigers, with his minutes limited this campaign due to injury.

Dele-Bashiru was happy to play a key role in a central position, featuring alongside midfield partners Hamza Choudhury and later João Pedro following Choudhury’s substitution after picking up a knock.

“It was frustrating,” Dele-Bashiru began. “The first half was pretty even and we grew into the game a bit, but we didn’t start particularly well.

“Hamza’s injury might have thrown us off a bit, but I think we grew into it during the second half. We started a bit poorly, but we created a lot of chances and we should’ve won the game, so it’s frustrating.

“It was good [to play alongside Choudhury and João Pedro]. I train with these guys all the time so I understand how they play. With Hamza, you have more of a leeway to go forward, but with João Pedro, I need to be more defensively engaged. It was good to play with both of them.

“In the second half, it was good but towards the end I started tiring, which is normal, but it was really good to get my first start.”

After the interval, Dele-Bashiru noted a marked improvement in chance creation with the Hornets coming close to breaking the deadlock on multiple occasions.

“I think in the first half we were moving the ball too slowly,” he continued. “Our offensive patterns weren’t really coming off, but we stayed focused and we pressed well in the first half.

“I think we had the ball a few times and we had a few chances, but we knew in the second half we needed to keep going.

“We hoped that our offensive patterns and combinations would come off and they did, but we weren’t clinical enough. After the first 10 minutes we were comfortable, we had all the possession, and we created a lot of chances. We were just missing that final bit.”

The energetic midfielder explained what Watford Head Coach Slaven Bilić asked of him before the fixture and how much he enjoys playing under the Croatian.

Dele-Bashiru added: “He just asked me to play my game, enjoy it and try to get on the ball and make things happen. In the first half, when I got on the ball I thought I was good, but I needed to be on the ball a bit more.

“Slaven Bilić is a great manager. It has been a difficult start because I had my injury at the beginning of the season, but I’ve been working hard, training well and I’m grateful for the opportunity and I hope to keep my place in the team.

“It was disappointing not to get the three points today, but we know that we created plenty of chances in the second half and we should’ve won the game, so we will take that and the positives into the next game.”