WATFORD boss Malky Mackay told www.watfordfc.com that the weekend's defeat to Barnsley hadn't disheartened his troops ahead of their clash with Bristol City at Vicarage Road tonight (Tuesday).
"The players are not too down and desolate because of their performance level on Saturday" explained Malky.
"The way they played on Saturday was encouraging; they put that level of energy and aggression in and the way they went at Barnsley in terms of winning second balls and getting on the ball.
"With this in mind I'm happy going into today's game knowing they would go out and do the same.
"We'll go and put the end product onto it and finish the game.
"We're looking forward to getting out in front of a good home crowd under the lights.
"I was really disappointed on Saturday as I thought we performed well" the Scotsman continued, recalling the encounter in Yorkshire at the weekend.
"Looking at the chances overall in the game, we had more chances than them.
"The two major decisions in the game - the penalty we should have had and the goal that Danny Graham had, which was a perfectly legal header in my eyes as well as the opposition and everyone else who's seen it.
"But the referee saw something wrong with it and that cost us. Another major decision that didn't go our way.
"As much as we're very disappointed we didn't get anything from the game, I certainly look at the performance on Saturday and I see us going up there and putting in a decent performance and that gives me hope going into tonight's game."
The Hornets manager went on to say that results come down to luck on some occasions and on Saturday it wasn't on Watford's side.
He said: "I think rub of the green is certainly something that you look at and think we should have got something there.
"You hope that overall that balances itself out, but there's been some major decisions recently, I look at the Peterborough and Nottingham Forest penalties and I look at Saturday's major decisions and that's what you are talking about - that's six or seven points there from where we are now.
"But that's something you just have to get on with at the time and what we've got here is a group of players who went to Barnsley on Saturday and gave as good they've got.
"If we weren't creating anything then I'd worry but were actually going up and imposing ourselves on the opposition at their home ground."
The Golden Boys' opponents tonight were on the receiving end of a 6-0 defeat to Cardiff at Ashton Gate last month, something, the Watford boss explained, highlights the unpredictability of the league.
He said: "There's been some really strange results at times in the Championship this season which no one could imagine.
"But that can happen to anyone in the division. Teams have been turned over plenty of times when they have been on a great run and everyone has gone through a sticky spell at some point.
"However, Gary Johnson knows Watford well - he was an ex-coach at the club and he's been a manager for a long time so he'll know what to expect coming up here."
Malky confirmed that talented youngster Tom Cleverley is still a doubt for the clash under the lights at Vicarage Road later today.
"Tom is going to be touch and go. He was unavailable on Saturday morning for the match at Barnsley and he's going to be fitness tested on Tuesday morning so we will see.
"Fortunately there are no other injury problems after the weekend. We've got the same squad available to us as Saturday."
For Johnson's team, Nicky Maynard (dead leg) and Jamal Campbell-Ryce (calf) are both out, but Cole Skuse is available for selection again after recovering from a stomach complaint.
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