JOBI McAnuff came closest to scoring past his old Crystal Palace side with an inspired performance, but sadly for the Orns, they came away with nothing.

Speaking before Stoke's game against Bristol City, McAnuff admitted that Watford had got it all to do if one of the automatic spots was going to be the way to promotion, but the play-offs are of course always an option and after all, that's what Watford do best.

The speedy winger came close to opening the scoring in the first half with two efforts that had the Watford faithful on their feet. He said: "I didn't get as much on it as I should have done and it's disappointing that we've come away with nothing. We needed to win today and we haven't done ourselves any favours.

"It will be very tough for us to grab one of the top two spots now, it's still not impossible but we've given ourselves an uphill task. We've shot ourselves in the foot today.

"We now need to make sure that if it's going to be the play-offs for us, that we're fully prepared for them."

McAnuff got a fair amount of stick from the visiting support, but he took it all in his stride: "That's just what happens when you move on, it won't have been the first time and it won't be the last that a player gets a bit of stick.

"I've seen Palace a couple of times and their style of play suits them away from home. They're quick on the counter and they're well organised. No doubt we'll meet them again in the play-offs if that's where we end up.

"For us now, we've got to reflect on the performance and focus on the next few games. Nothing has been sorted out yet and we'll see what the next few games bring. We need to win our next two games to get the momentum going again."