We'll get enough points to stay in the division

Last updated : 14 April 2004 By Tony Scholes

The result took Watford three points clear of the Clarets and to the usual safety position of fifty points but manager Ray Lewington certainly doesn’t see it that way with five games still to play.

"It’s certainly not over for us," said Lewington. "We’ve got five more big games left, starting next Saturday at Rotherham.

"I think what you are seeing a little of is the Wimbledon effect, because most teams have beaten then and they are well adrift, that means you need more points than normal to be safe."

His side could not have done more over Easter with two wins and he said, "Six points out of six, we couldn’t have asked for any more. Both performances were good and today at Burnley was excellent. Right from the first minute we were on top of our game and played some good stuff.

"Chris Baird is a quality player and today he showed why he has played in the Premiership. He is confident on the ball and knows he’s got quality."

And to the game itself he added, "It was a really open game, lots of chances and plenty of goals. Burnley really commit lots of men forward and you can see why they have let so many goals in.

"I thought they had nicked a draw when three players failed to turn in Glen Little’s cross right at the death. We got away with that but we deserved to because of our sheer endeavour.

"The commitment and attitude of players whose contracts are up is outstanding. The players frustrate us at times with their lack of quality but you can never fault their application."

Stan was as disappointed and frustrated as Lewington was pleased after the poor performance.

"It was a disappointing day," he said. "We were very poor today and that’s the frustrating thing about it. We played really well at Walsall on Saturday and really well in the first half against Norwich the week before, but today we were nowhere near out usual selves.

"Not one of our players performed to his capabilities and when that happens you lose the match."

He spoke of the first two goals, two more courtesy of defensive mistakes he added, "I thought the tackle for the penalty was naïve to say the least and as for the second we were trying to play offside and we never do that in training so I don’t know why they tried that."

We were not helped by injuries to Paul Weller and Neil Wood who were both replaced in the first twenty minutes. "Weller had a fitness test and said he was alright to play, but he obviously wasn’t. Wood took a whack on his knee and tried to carry on, but he couldn’t."

And for the rest of the season he concluded, "That performance just wasn’t good enough, but I still say we’ll get enough points to stay in the division.

"We have five games left, there at home and two away, so there’s fifteen points to play for and we need half a dozen. Results elsewhere mean nothing to us, we still need to get the points we need."