Saturday's 5-0 drubbing at West Bromwich Albion ended a fine sequence of away results for Watford, but the Hornets have not lost their sting insisted Manager Malky Mackay after the club's biggest defeat for almost nine years.

Before the weekend Watford had gone six games without an away loss, their results including impressive wins at Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough, and Saturday's visit to the Hawthorns followed a 4-1 home victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

A win at West Brom would have put Mackay's men just one point behind Albion and level on points with the lowest of the Play-Off places. But instead they were put to the sword by the Baggies, whose win took them back to the top of the table

Mackay admitted: "It was very disappointing. It was a day where we had to come and have the belief that we could win and also make sure that we didn't lose poor goals - but we did that in the first 10 minutes and that made it very difficult."

The Hornets were 2-0 down at half-time and ended up well beaten despite producing some good moments. Disappointed though Mackay was, however, he remained defiant with his team still in the top half of the Coca-Cola Championship table.

"We're a young group and they're learning every week," he said. "They're obviously disappointed in this performance and we spoke about it in the dressing room, but that wasn't the time for doing too much and we'll look at things again in the week.

"Some of the group are playing their first few games of Championship football and they've been doing great so far. We've been on a great run and playing well, now we'll work hard in the week and get back to being competitive again.

"I've been in this League for 13 years, so I know it very well and I know there are no easy games. At least on Saturday the lads kept going right to the end, they showed their mettle in that respect and I'm confident that they'll bounce back.

"You only need to go on a run and all of a sudden you're up there - but if you go on a bad run then you could be facing the bottom three or four. It's all about consistency, that's what I ask for and if I can get that out of the players then I'll be happy."

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