Ed Still hails ‘special’ first home victory as Watford boss against Derby

Watford boss Ed Still was thrilled to start his reign at Vicarage Road with a victory after a 2-0 success against Derby.

Luca Kjerrumgaard steered home a loose ball in the area after five minutes before Mamadou Doumbia flicked in a 90th-minute cross to move the Hornets level on points with Derby in a packed play-off race.

Still knows more difficult tasks await his new team, not least with the visit of Ipswich on Tuesday evening, but he welcomed victory on his home bow.

“It is all about the players. I’m just there like a wally on the side of the pitch jumping up and down,” Still said.

“It was special to be able to give the fans something to cheer about. And to be able to start the game the way we did, to get an early goal and not to step back too much after that.

“To send everybody home happy and hopeful for the coming weeks was great. And we also saw a team that is connecting again, not just as footballers, but as people. That is massive.

“We’ve tried to bring as much fresh energy and as much clean energy as possible.

“We did a huge amount of defensive work this week and it’s a good job we had four days on the training pitch to be able to prepare.”

It is now the third successive season that Watford have managed a league double over these opponents, while Rams manager John Eustace has still never led a side to victory over his former club.

Addressing that fact, Eustace gave a wry smile, but was very forthright about his side’s largely toothless performance.

Eustace said: “Watford wanted the game more than us. We lost too many duels and we were too slow on the ball. This is a game we must learn from.

“The players have said it themselves, that as a group we let ourselves down today and we need to be better.

“We didn’t compete well enough every time we got into the final third. We didn’t look after the ball well enough and our decision-making wasn’t good enough.

“We’ve been on a good run, but in the Championship you always get games like this so we don’t get carried away with the highs and the lows.

“This gives us a reminder that if we think we’ve arrived, we’re in trouble.

“There are 13 games to go and every team we’re playing against will have something to play for.

“To get into the top six, we need to compete first and foremost. That’s what we’re all about.”