MALKY Mackay organised a light morning session to go through the set pieces in preparation for the evening's (Monday) match against UE Lleida.

The players were then ordered to relax back at the hotel in the afternoon - but it was anything but a laid back time for Operations Manager Iain Moody who was charged with sorting out the chaotic transport situation.

After solving the mess caused by British Airways' failure to deliver a checked in bag full of Watford kit earlier in the week, now it was time for Hertz to let the Hornets down.

Routinely on pre-season trips, Watford staff come out early in a hired van to carry the majority of the equipment - and save on the astronomical cost of checking in literally tons of overweight baggage onto a flight.

This year, Physio Neil Greig and Kit Man Bob Oteng drove to Barcelona in a Hertz van picked up in Watford and all went well until the fourth day of the trip when the van's steering failed, causing Hertz to have the vehicle towed away and replaced by a new, Spanish one.

Unbelievably, on the third day of the new van, that one also broke down, forcing Hertz to fork out again to have it towed away for repair. The day before departure, the group was left without a vehicle to transport all of the gear back to WD18.

Moody took Hertz to task and obtained the third van of the week and had it delivered just minutes before kick off against UE Lleida. However, Hertz were not keen on Watford using a Spanish-registered van to go back to England, whilst leaving an English-registered one in Spain.

Moody's badgering and threats eventually got a climbdown from Hertz in the shape of permission to take the (second) Spanish van back to Watford once it became clear that the original English van would not be repaired until two days after the Hornets' scheduled departure date.

Hertz were quick to point out that the cost of repatriating TWO of their vans was likely to rise above £5000 but they found little sympathy from the Watford staff who had been twice let down by faulty vehicles.

It's not all glamour on the road with the Hornets!