Tom Cleverley not pointing finger at slow-starting Watford after Coventry draw

Posted Sunday, September 15, 2024 by PA

Tom Cleverley was determined not to point the finger at his slow-starting Watford players after they played out an entertaining 1-1 draw against Coventry.

The Vicarage Road outfit conceded after just four minutes for the third game in a row, but pulled back in a fixture that could have seen more goals.

Tom Dele-Bashiru cancelled out an Ellis Simms opener, and Watford head coach Cleverley was aware his team must tighten up at the start of games without making it an issue.

He said: “When conceding early happens once, it can happen, if it happens twice you start seeing a pattern and you start an inquest.

“When it happens three times we have to review it. So we will review our preparation and we have the mindset of coming out like a bullet out of a gun.

“I don’t want to make it a thing with the players, because you don’t want them to become fearful at the start of games.

“A game of two halves is exactly how I summed it up in the dressing room, it was a stereotypical Championship game.

“It was probably a fair result, and both managers will see it as a point gained than one lost.”

It was once again an awful start for Watford. Simms was allowed free space from a Jack Rudoni corner to direct his header off a post and into the net.

The visitors appeared in a hurry to add to the scoresheet, although the hosts themselves should have equalised after 10 minutes – a Ryan Andrews delivery across the area fell to an unmarked Giorgi Chakvetadze but his first-time effort was put past a post.

The failure to add a second goal almost proved costly for Coventry, who saw Vakoun Bayo head wide with four minutes of the half remaining.

To their credit, Watford weathered the Coventry storm, and perhaps sensing a single goal was not enough for the visitors, looked more assured.

Visiting keeper Oliver Dovin was significantly busier in the second half than the first, and was forced to tip over an effort from Yasser Larouci, before denying Moussa Sissoko just before the hour mark.

However, the Coventry keeper was finally beaten after 67 minutes, when Chakvetadze crossed from the left flank into the path of Dele-Bashiru, who made no mistake from six yards out.

The day of the impressive Chakvetadze ended on a sour note when the Georgian was taken off on a stretcher after a lengthy delay with under 10 minutes of normal time remaining.

Despite a late Rudoni effort saved from Daniel Bachmann, it proved to be a game of shared spoils, which left Coventry manager Mark Robins frustrated at just a point.

He said: “From minute one we were really good, Watford is a good team and a different animal from last year.

“They’re running, they’re working hard and have got some real quality.

“We managed to really get on top of the game, played some really good football, we took the hardest chance of them all.

“We can only blame ourselves for not getting three points, it should have been over by half-time.

“They always had the chance to get back into it.

“If you can’t win, don’t lose. We were magnificent, we can be disappointed we didn’t get four or five.”