Charlie Daniels lauds ‘really good performance’ as Watford claim point at Hull

Caretaker boss Charlie Daniels praised Watford’s players for the way they earned a point and pushed for more in the goalless draw at promotion-chasing Hull just days after Javi Gracia’s abrupt exit.

The Spaniard ended his second spell in the Vicarage Road hotseat on Sunday, having called for talks with owner Gino Pozzo the previous day after overseeing a 2-0 home defeat to Swansea.

Under-21s lead coach Daniels was parachuted in following Gracia’s exit, joined by Adrian Mariappa and Dan Gosling, and two days later oversaw an impressive performance at the MKM Stadium.

“It was a really good performance,” the interim boss said. “I thought the lads understood what we asked of them tactically.

“The energy they played with and the quality they showed and they possess, I thought it came through tonight. For me, the only thing missing from that performance was a goal.

“From one training session, the response has been really pleasing. They’ve taken on board what we’ve said and what we’ve asked of them and they’ve implemented it. It showed in our performance.”

Daniels expects to still be in charge when Watford travel to Southampton on Saturday lunchtime as a whirlwind week continues.

“Luckily on Sunday we were in prepping for our Under-21s game today against QPR,” he said. “We were actually on the pitch at the time when we got called in.

“We went up to see (chairman and chief executive) Scott Duxbury and he informed us that obviously Javi was leaving and we were going to take charge.

“I don’t really know too much more than that. We say control the controllable.”

This fixture was supposed to be played a month ago only to be controversially postponed 18 minutes before kick-off and it saw Watford end Hull’s run of Championship wins since then.

A fifth straight victory in the Tigers’ game in hand would have put them within two points of the automatic promotion places, but boss Sergej Jakirovic was delighted to move within four of the top two.

“Perfect point for us,” the Tigers boss said. “When you watch everything back, Watford was better on the ball, without the ball.

“They were very dangerous and we knew it because this is a team with a lot of potential. Powerful, quick, they can make a difference in every part of the pitch.

“Especially in the first half, we dropped too much, we struggled there, so when you take the ball you don’t have any good options for good possession with the counter-attack.

“They missed some chances, good chances, and I cannot complain about this point. Every point is very important in this league and we are very satisfied with one point.”