Watford 3 Barnsley 0: Wilson calls on Tykes to show inner belief

Watford set a club record of six consecutive home wins without conceding a goal as this victory left Barnsley rooted to the foot of the Championship table.
Barnsley's manager Danny WilsonBarnsley's manager Danny Wilson
Barnsley's manager Danny Wilson

Goals from Cristian Battocchio and Troy Deeney put the Hornets in the driving seat inside the first 20 minutes and the hosts were rarely troubled before Alexander Merkel made it three with 16 minutes remaining.

Barnsley manager Danny Wilson admitted his side made life hard for themselves after conceding so early: “That just knocked us for six. We came with a game plan and we knew exactly what we wanted to do, get the ball down and cause them some problems, then we got hit with a sucker punch within minutes of the start.

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“It was a poor, poor goal to give away. Defensively, it was suicidal and then to concede the second one... It’s very, very difficult when the team’s in the ascendancy and Watford’s home record is fantastic. It was always going to be difficult to get back into it.

“We showed a little bit more fight in the second half in terms of our forward play, but we were always going to be vulnerable.”

Wilson admitted a lot of home truths had been aired.

He added: “There’s been a lot of very candid words spoken.

“We’ve got some good games coming up, this season is far from over, but if they’re going to start believing what people are writing about us then it will be over. We’ve got to have an inner strength, a little cocoon around us if you like, and make sure we don’t take it to heart and really believe we can stay up.”

Watford: Almunia, Doyley (Neill 84), Cassetti, Angella, Faraoni, Tozser, Battocchio, McGugan (Merkel 64), Pudil (O’Nien 88), Anya, Deeney. Unused substitutes: Belkalem, Ekstrand, Bond, Hoban.

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Barnsley: Steele, Hunt, Mvoto, Nyatanga, Kennedy, Lawrence (O’Grady 60), Dawson, Mellis, Frimpong (Noble-Lazarus 60), Jennings, Proschwitz. Unused substitutes: Woods, Cywka, Turner, Rose, McCourt.

Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancashire).

Man of the match: Troy Deeney.