'Mature' Hornets thrill Zola

Post-match reaction to Watford's 4-0 victory over Huddersfield.

Last Updated: 19/01/13 at 19:51 Post Comment

Troy Deeney: Put Watford ahead

Troy Deeney: Put Watford ahead

Gianfranco Zola praised Watford's "mature" performance as they continued their play-off charge with a 4-0 win over Huddersfield.

Zola felt it was an ideal reward for the 100 supporters who helped clear the snow from Vicarage Road earlier in the morning.

The Hornets had to wait until first-half injury-time to make the breakthrough when Troy Deeney scored a penalty after Matej Vydra had been fouled by Peter Clarke.

But once Vydra turned in Marco Cassetti's cross 11 minutes after the restart there was never much doubt about the outcome.

The in-form Czech international scored his eighth in his last four Watford league starts and 16th of the season after excellent hold-up play by Deeney.

The hosts saved their best for last though, when a superb one-touch passing move ended with Cristian Battocchio scoring his first for the club.

Zola said: "I just found out that this morning, more than 100 supporters turned up here to help clear the pitch of the snow so I think they've been [rewarded] with this performance and they deserved it.

"I think we've played some better games than this but it was a mature game. The result is a little bit too hard towards Huddersfield because in the first half they made it very, very difficult for us, so we had to work hard.

"I think the goal towards the end [of the first half] helped the team a lot because we then, in the second half, managed to play the football that we want to play. They had to open up a little bit more.

"But it was mature because, as I said, playing at home and playing away is a completely different thing and we need to learn to do better when we play home.

"We know what we need to do when we are away from home, at home we need to improve and today's performance was excellent in terms of this."

The defeat stretched Huddersfield's poor league run to 12 without a win but boss Simon Grayson felt the penalty should not have been awarded.

The Terriers boss said: "I thought, first half, we were well truly in the game. We kept them quiet, you could sense the atmosphere had gone quiet as well and the decision just before half time changed the game. We let it affect us and it obviously gave them a big confidence boost.

"The decision was wrong, it's great tackle by our right back and it's outside the box, so it's a poor decision.

"But in the second half we felt sorry for ourselves and allowed Watford to dictate the game and when you do that against a team like Watford then you're under pressure because they're a good side.

"You can see how technically good they are but we certainly felt sorry for ourselves and that was reflected in us getting done four, rather than maybe one or two."

Grayson though, was full of praise for the quality of the Hornets' fourth goal, adding "Watford certainly got into their stride and I suppose if anybody watches the fourth goal they'll see what a great goal it was. If that was in the Premiership, it would be applauded by a lot of people."


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