Chris McGuane has described Watford’s first week under Marco Silva as “very positive” but admitted this afternoon’s 1-1 draw at Woking was mainly about getting minutes into the players.

The Hornets returned for pre-season training on Monday and also began work under a new head coach and the club’s head of academy acknowledged Silva will look to bring his own stamp on the club, but is pleased with how the first week has gone.

McGuane said: “We’re very stable, we’ve got our own way and style of working and developing players in the Academy. Obviously things will tweak and change slightly. Marco will come and bring his own stamp into the first team environment and we’ll have to adapt to that with the 23s and the Under-18s to make sure we’re meeting the needs of what he wants at first-team level.

“But so far it’s been very, very positive. It’s been a great week for first team, 23s and 18s and it’s been great to back on the field and playing games again.”

Alex Jakubiak gave the Watford Under-23 side a first-half lead at the Laithwaite Community Stadium, but this was quickly cancelled out by former Hornets youngster Bobson Bawling.

Describing the game as a “great workout”, McGuane continued: “It was a decent test against a really good side and we’ve come through unscathed hopefully so really pleased.

“Pre-season is always tough and it’s always about building up match minutes and getting the physical element into it. But you can start to see the way that we want to play and the style and the shape and that will evolve as we go through pre-season. But today was just about minutes really.”

Click here to read a report of today's match.