Watford midfielder Leandro Bacuna was delighted to help his teammates secure a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town on his debut for the Golden Boys.

The 31-year-old was placed into the starting XI against the Terriers by Head Coach Slaven Bilić after signing for the club on Wednesday (December 14), and played an important role as João Pedro’s second-half double earned Watford a valuable win on the road.

Bacuna explained that he wasn’t expecting to make his first start in yellow, but was focused and ready to make an impact whenever the Watford boss needed him.

“I think it was great, coming back and playing for the first time in a long time, I was delighted,” he said. “Winning the game at the end was a brilliant bonus.

“I didn’t expect to start. I was ready, for sure. The Head Coach came to me and asked how long I could play and I said if he needed me I’d be there.

“Looking back, I think I can be happy. I did my thing, I played my minutes. You’ve got to get your match fitness somewhere, and I think today was a perfect example to get my match fitness up and to get ready for the next run of games. Overall, I feel I can be happy with my performance.”

Watford’s latest recruit has been at the club for a number of weeks training with the squad, and felt that the familiarity with his fellow teammates was an advantage on the pitch. And the Curaçao international was full of praise for the goalscorer, João Pedro.

“Before I signed I’d been training with the group so I knew the players,” Bacuna said. “It was good coming back to the group, everyone knew me so it was familiar ground, and it feels like home.

“At the beginning of today, we were a bit sloppy. Once we got into the game we created a lot of chances, it was just lacking that one finishing touch, and you see in the second half how calm João was to finish that. He’s a brilliant player.”

Bacuna was also pleased to earn a clean sheet alongside his midfield partner Tom Dele-Bashiru, acknowledging that the achievement was a team effort.

“[Dele-Bashiru] has got a lot of talent, you can see that,” he added.

“On the ball, he’s got quality going forward, I think you saw that for the first goal, he was going forward before giving the ball to João. We’ve still got to get used to each other, definitely, it’s only the first game, but I’m excited.

“People always praise defenders for clean sheets, but it starts from the front. If the strikers do well, then the midfield and the support from the defence, I think it starts from the front and we all do it. We’ve all got to take credit for a clean sheet.”