Watford boss Tom Cleverley will forgive his players for the “schoolboy stuff” that cost them a much-needed Championship victory against promotion-chasing Sunderland.
After three defeats on the bounce, Watford looked set for a deserved win at the Stadium of Light as they responded to Luke O’Nien’s early Sunderland opener with a Tom Dele-Bashiru penalty and a stunning strike from Imran Louza.
But the Black Cats, who have not lost at home all season, grabbed a last-gasp leveller when Dennis Cirkin bundled in Enzo Le Fee’s corner and had two glorious chances to win it in stoppage time through Wilson Isidor and substitute Milan Aleksic.
Cleverley was disappointed with his side’s handling of the game in the final stages but proud of the overall performance.
“I thought for 60, 65 minutes we were excellent,” said the former Manchester United midfielder, whose side are 10th in the Championship table, three points adrift of the play-off places.
“We didn’t create too many chances but felt a sense of control and we frustrated the home support. But I’m really disappointed we didn’t manage the last 10 minutes of the game better. We really are better than that at
managing games.
“We were nowhere near good enough in the last 10 minutes. Things can get clouded a little bit because they had the best chances of the game late on. But I don’t want to get caught up in the negatives even though we’ve lost two points.”
Watford have won just one of their last nine games, but Cleverley says that recent struggle has brought his players together.
“We feel like there’s a few things going against us, but it fuelled us to play like we did for 80 minutes today,” he said.
“There was some schoolboy stuff at the end which I’m disappointed about, but that’s an easy problem for me to fix as a coach. The general performance was really pleasing. I can fix the last 10 minutes, but it still hurts.”
Sunderland remain fourth in the Championship and are unbeaten in seven but have now had to settle for draws in their last two home games.
Boss Regis Le Bris said: “I’m a bit disappointed. We started well and we finished well. It wasn’t really a surprise the challenge we faced today because we knew before the game that this team was very powerful, with many
players with high pace.
“I think probably it suits perfectly our weaknesses. We are well organised, but we are not as powerful and so in one-v-one we were dominated.
“After the second goal we decided to play with our strength. It was more positive because it is not easy to change the dynamic of the game.
“Our subs helped, they brought some energy. At the end we had good chances to win. We knew this would not be an easy challenge, they are a good team with strong individuals. We were able to change the dynamic at the end.
“These two opportunities at the end we can be disappointed with. You can struggle in a game, but at the end, if you are clinical, then you can win.”
Sunderland were without Jobe Bellingham, but Le Bris said the midfielder’s ankle injury was not serious. The teenager is expected to return for Wednesday’s home game against struggling Luton.
