Watford boss Roy Hodgson was left frustrated after their 3-0 home defeat to Leeds.
After two second-half goals sealed a 3-0 defeat to Leeds United at Vicarage Road, Watford manager Roy Hodgson says his task is to ensure spirits are kept high ahead of an important Premier League run-in.
Hodgson didn't feel the convincing scoreline told the full story, with Raphinha's strike the difference at half-time and goals from Rodrigo and Jack Harrison compounding the Hornets' misery late on.
“Their opening goal was the result of their first serious strike at goal and it was a good strike," Hodgson reflected. “I thought in the second half we came out quite well, showed a lot of determination and aggression.
"It's frustrating; we wanted it so badly. The second goal was a killer blow in a period of the game I thought we were doing fairly well. In a situation we find ourselves in when things go badly against you, it's the last thing you want to see. It happened and there's nothing I can say here that's going to change that.
“I thought the players showed everybody that they believe in this and want to do it, but we conceded that rather sloppy and unfortunate second goal and in our current position, those goals kill games off.
“It was only with about 15 minutes left to go we missed a very good chance to equalise, and it's very difficult mentally for players when you're at the bottom of the table and have been all season to shrug that off and say 'don't worry, there's three goals in this' because we're not dreamers, we're realists."
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