THE inquest was long in the Hornets' dressing room after today's Scunthorpe defeat, with both manager and players having their say on another depressing day at Vicarage Road.

Paul Hayes' 68^th minute winner for the Iron sealed Watford's eighth home defeat of the campaign and means Aidy Boothroyd's side go into a final day showdown needing nothing less than a win to guarantee their play-off status.

Having digested the hour-long dressing room debate, Boothroyd emerged to talk to the press about the outcomes: "The inquest was long; there are issues, but the verdict we won't know until our next game to be perfectly honest. Inquests always ask the questions and we have to see what happens at Blackpool.

"Individually, choices have to be made by members of that team and that staff and it was an inquest. But it's not in the talking it's in the doing.

"I think the squad are still behind me and if I thought anything else I'd be on my toes and I'd be off. I think in these situations there are a lot of negatives to be taken from it, but those players have been great at times this year.

"Throughout this season we've shown guts, courage, boldness, we've played some fantastic attacking football and defended resolutely and today I saw a group of individuals who were waiting for something to happen. It's fear.

"The morale in the dressing room is very low and we're all very disappointed, because we should be beating Scunthorpe.

"You have to stand up and fight, or you run, and today we ran away from it. The bottom line is whoever is picked does what they need to do and doesn't wait for others."

Remarkably, other results have again left the Hornets in a position where their destiny still lies in their own hands as they travel to Bloomfield Road next weekend.

"We've had more lives than a cat this season. I can't defend our home form this year; there are no reasons, just excuses. The fact of the matter is we have to go to Blackpool and what we will get up there we'll have to wait and see.

"We have got raise ourselves individually, raise ourselves as a team and we have got to go and fight. If we are going to go out we have to go out fighting and today we went out whimpering and that's not acceptable to me."

After the game Boothroyd made a point of applauding the fans at what was the last regular home league fixture of the season - he also took the time to spend 15 minutes talking to a group of fans well into the early evening, as they waited patiently on Occupation Road for their say on the matter.

Keen not to shy away from criticism, Boothroyd said: "I am the leader and therefore people will look for me. I went out there after the game to applaud the fans for the simple reason that it isn't their fault that we've lost eight games at home. They did their bit today and we didn't, and too often this year we haven't.

"We are poor and we are not doing what we have done earlier in the season. We set our sights high here and we wanted automatic promotion. I want the fans to know its not their fault and they made noise - I respect that. We haven't done our part."