WATFORD legend Tommy Mooney - expert summariser for Hornets Player and BBC Three Counties Radio on Saturday - felt the Leeds United game highlighted just what a key figure striker Danny Graham is to the Hornets.

The Marbella-based ex-striker spoke just after the full-time whistle had blown time on the Golden Boys' unbeaten start to the npower Championship campaign.

"Graham's the talisman in the team right now - so it's just unfortunate that he was out injured," reflected the 39-year-old former forward.

"That mantle won't always be his right throughout the season. It comes and goes with form and fitness, but at the moment it was a shame for him not to be playing.

"I thought Sordell and Deeney gave it a real go up front in Graham's absence, but the Leeds defenders used all their experience and knowledge to guide the play into places where we couldn't cause too much danger for them."

Tommy felt that Leeds' reluctance to "come out" too much, whilst partly a consequence of the early goal, should have allowed Watford more room for manoeuvre in midfield.

"I didn't see our midfield getting on the ball as much as they did at Hull the week before to be fair," he noted.

"Cowie put some decent deliveries into the box but they didn't land where the forwards had made their runs.

"There's no question Buckley offered something different when he came on, and perhaps Malky thought that it was worth sacrificing Cowie's effectiveness a little bit to give Buckley a run at Leeds' left-back Hughes.

"I thought that move was also beneficial to Mutch in the centre. I've been doing a bit of work for Birmingham so I've seen a little bit of him. He's a youngster that you need to get on the ball, and I thought that happened more once the changes were made.

"Mutch tried to switch the play from left to right, credit to him, even if that didn't always end up in a successful pass.

"The game needed someone in a yellow shirt to really stamp their authority on proceedings, but unlike some of the other games I've seen this season, that never quite happened for us," added Tommy.

"For me, the big positives I took out of it  were, firstly as an ex-striker, seeing just how hard the front two worked. Okay, it might not have run for them today in terms of chances and what have you, but you couldn't fault their work-rate and commitment.

"And although it's not nice to concede from a dead-ball scenario, I thought the back four learnt their lessons from that and defended set-pieces with far more purpose and cohesion after the goal."

Tommy was speaking to Hornets Player and BBC 3CR commentator Jon Marks