Defender Christian Kabasele reflected on the contrasting fortunes at either end of the pitch during Watford’s 3-2 defeat to Queens Park Rangers, and insisted the team must find the right balance between scoring and conceding goals.

The Hornets twice came from behind to level the clash through Ken Sema and João Pedro strikes either side of the break, after Ilias Chair and Chris Willock had made it 1-0 and then 2-1 to the Hoops.

Substitute Albert Adomah earned the spoils for the visitors with a close-range goal 20 minutes from time, and though Edo Kayembe thought he had rescued a point with a 25-yard effort late on it was ultimately ruled out for offside against Ismaïla Sarr.

While Kabasele was pleased with Watford’s attacking play in response to being put on the back foot he acknowledged improvement is needed defensively, albeit that the Rs were particularly clinical at Vicarage Road.

“There’s a lot of disappointment in the dressing room because we weren’t able to bounce back following defeat in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday,” the 31-year-old said. “We showed some character, but I don’t think we got the balance right.

“In our previous games we hadn’t conceded many goals, but also hadn’t scored many. Today we got two - and thought we had a third - but we let QPR in too many times.

“The first goal is quite lucky from their point of view as it deflected off Francisco [Sierralta], but the other two were similar in that they were both in the box. They were very clinical, but we should have done better.

“We played four at the back today and I think we adapted well in the first half - we just weren’t able to take advantage of our strong moments in the game. QPR made the most of their chances, and that’s what we need to do going forward.”

On Kayembe’s disallowed effort, Kabasele - who wore the captain’s armband for the match - said he had spoken to referee Keith Stroud about the decision following the full-time whistle.

And having tasted defeat for the first time in the Sky Bet Championship this term, the Belgian is determined to help his side deliver a win for the supporters back at home on Vic 100 Matchday against Middlesbrough this Tuesday (August 30, 8pm KO).

He added: “I haven’t seen the footage back yet but I spoke to the referee after the match and he said Ismaïla was offside, because he was active when the cross came in. You have to accept it and move on - at the end of the day we didn’t do enough to get anything out of the game.

“Tuesday is going to be a big night, and we want to win the game. There’s a lot to look forward to with the Vic 100 celebrations, but most importantly we don’t want to disappoint the fans three times in a row. We’ll make sure we’re ready.”

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