Adrian Mariappa thinks Watford were hard done to in their home defeat to Burnley on Saturday.

The Hornets had the better of the game in the first half, but were unable to take their chances.

After losing Craig Dawson to injury just before the break, the game swung in the visitors' favour and Burnley scored three times to send Watford back to the bottom of the table.

After the game Mariappa told the club website they now need to go back to the drawing board ahead of a crucial game away at Southampton next weekend.

“Playing in that it didn’t feel like a 3-0,” he said.

“First half I thought it was quite even but we were defending well, we were quite comfortable and I thought we were in the ascendency as well. We have to go back to the drawing board now, look at the game and work hard for next week.

“We’re disappointed with the goals we conceded and like I said we just have to go back to the drawing board and work hard in training because up to that point [conceding the first goal] I thought we were dealing very well.

“It’s not ideal when you lose one of your centre-halves as well, especially against a strong Burnley side. You need your best players for the aerial threat as well so hopefully he recovers well.

“We’ve got a strong squad anyway and Adam [Masina] came on and I thought he did very well but we ended up losing the game 3-0 and we just have to go back, look at it and work hard for next week.”