Forward Keinan Davis insisted that thoughts among the Watford squad have already turned to bouncing back to winning ways as quickly as possible, following the Hornets’ frustrating Boxing Day defeat at home to Millwall.
Goals from Andreas Voglsammer and Zian Flemming either side of half-time sealed the 2-0 scoreline in the Lions’ favour, while home disappointment was further compounded by an injury to João Pedro, and a first-half Hassane Kamara red card.
Indeed, Davis - who has netted four times in yellow since his summer switch from Aston Villa - felt his side’s numerical disadvantage did impact the pattern of play, though he praised the fight and refusal to lie down displayed by the Golden Boys.
Flemming’s free-kick late on put paid to an encouraging spell of home pressure, and having gone into the game with confidence after last weekend’s win at Huddersfield Davis is looking for a fast response in his team’s next festive outing.
“It’s a tough defeat,” said 24-year-old Davis, who saw his appeals for a penalty waved away in the first half. “We went into it feeling good after a good result last time out, but we gave away a sloppy goal in the first half and then went down to 10 men.
“That obviously makes things harder, because everyone’s got to cover a lot more ground, but I actually thought we battled well. We had a bit of momentum, but that second goal killed things off because it just made that mountain even harder to climb.
“We know we’ve got a couple more games coming up in quick succession, so hopefully we can just put this one behind us and recapture our form quickly.”
A trip to South Wales to take on Russell Martin’s Swansea City lies next in store for Watford (Friday December 30, 7.45pm KO), and as well as aiming to provide a response to this latest defeat the Hornets will be looking to exact revenge for the 2-1 loss dealt by the Swans at Vicarage Road in October.
An away clash against fellow promotion hopefuls Norwich City is then scheduled for Bank Holiday Monday (January 2, 3pm KO), and Davis is confident he and his teammates can deliver some festive cheer to the Watford faithful over the coming week.
He added: “We’re all really desperate to bounce back straight away, and we know we’ve got a good opportunity to do that with two big games coming up. They’ll both be tough games, against good sides, but we’ll be on the lookout for the points.
“We want to repay the supporters for their brilliant support. We know it’s Christmas and they’ve come out to support us, we all appreciate it and we hope we can get results for them at Swansea and Norwich.”
