Tom Cleverley delighted with Watford’s ‘best display this season’ against Baggies

Watford manager Tom Cleverley declared his side’s performance against West Brom as “maybe the best we’ve been this season”.

Vakoun Bayo scored both goals as the hosts moved to the cusp of the play-off places with a 2-1 win against the Baggies, going level on points with sixth-placed Middlesbrough.

Cleverly added: “Against a really strong team with a top coach, that’s the performance that has pleased me the most.

“We knew that this was a big game. We highlighted that with the players in a meeting on Friday morning when we addressed the players.

“It felt like it was two teams who have the same ambitions and same objectives and with everyone around us winning yesterday, that pressure was compounded, so I’m hugely proud of the players.

“I was really, really pleased with how we didn’t sit back and try and defend the lead. This is our home and we have a real connection with the supporters.

“If we can just improve the away form a little bit, we’ll be in a strong position. Now it’s about being able to consistently churn out the results against all teams in the division.”

Cleverley also praised striker Bayo, saying: “I’m really happy for him. He’s a player who sacrifices himself for the team, but let’s not discount that he has nine goals for the season in the league now.

“He’s having a really productive season in front of goal, although it is very hard to pick individuals out of that performance.

“They were excellent goals. There wasn’t so much pace on the first goal to generate the power and the accuracy that he did. It was a striker’s goal.

“We know Bayo’s work that he does for the team and if he maintains that as well as scoring the goals, we’ve got a complete striker at this level.”

West Brom manager Carlos Corberan was upset that Watford’s second goal was allowed to stand after what he saw as a foul on his striker Josh Maja in the build-up.

Corberan said: “We didn’t start the second half well. They created a couple of crosses into the box even before the second goal.

“But for the goal, I think there was a foul on Josh Maja. I saw a foul. Josh said that he was fouled. The interpretation of the referee was that it wasn’t a foul. And it is the referee who decides.

“It’s a difficult defeat to accept but at the same time it is a defeat.

“In the first half we created enough goal possibilities to score and we finished the first half with a massive chance. If we had scored that goal, probably the result would have been different.

“We finished the game with the feeling that we wanted. In the last 15 minutes we understood the way to create chances. The feeling that I have now is that it is a pity that we could not create more.”

West Brom’s festive period sees five Championship games crammed into a 14-day period, beginning with Sunday’s visit of Bristol City to The Hawthorns.

Having seen his side beaten for the first time since early October and slipping to eighth in the table, 10 points off the automatic promotion places, Corberan admitted it is a critical run of fixtures.

He added: “It is not necessarily the time to work on things on the training pitch now, especially knowing the marathon of games that we are having to play in the Christmas period.

“Every game is a massive opportunity for you to achieve the things that you want to achieve and of course if you add points you are going to be closer to the place you want to be.

“And if you don’t get enough points, it’s more difficult to get to that position.”