AS Watford boss Malky Mackay prepares his men for the visit of the Toon Army tomorrow (Saturday), he outlined they had nothing to be afraid from the league leaders.

The Golden Boys go into the clash unbeaten in their last three home matches without conceding a goal.

Newcastle, who are currently five points ahead of second placed Nottingham Forest in the Championship, come to Vicarage Road having not won an away game since early December.

"We went to St James' Park, and honestly on the day I look at it and I thought we played very well" Malky said.

"Again on balance, if you looked at the game as a neutral, you would say that Watford were unlucky to have been beaten on that day. There was a mistake in the first half and a fantastic finish late on from them but in between that an awful lot of chances as we're concerned.

"That was up at St James'. Now they come to us and I want to make sure that we have a great atmosphere and a great attendance and then we give all those fans something to shout about.

"However, I'm not surprised by anything that's happened to them this season" the Scotsman told www.watfordfc.com.

"Newcastle have got two disciplined and dedicated men in Chris Houghton and Colin Calderwood who have got a huge amount of resources at their disposal.

"You take the fact that in the last couple of weeks, they've brought in several players [Wayne Routledge, Mike Williamson and Fitz Hall] just to make sure they get promoted. These are names which you'd do well to buy in a whole season normally, but they've been brought into Newcastle just to help them along their way.

"There are a lot of quality footballers up there who command a lot of salaries and who have a lot of Premiership experiences as well as in our League and several in the Champions League."

Malky stated that he didn't want the return of former Hornet defender Mike Williamson to overshadow the exciting atmosphere of the encounter at WD18 on Saturday.

"First and foremost I want people to focus on the fact that it's Newcastle United who have come down to play us.

Malky Mackay is confident ahead of Saturday's clash with the league leaders

"It's an important game on Saturday and we're going into it confidently and hopefully backed by a great atmosphere from our fans.

"There's an excitement about them coming to us and us giving them a good game. I want that to overshadow everything else."

In team news, there are no fresh injuries for the Hornets. Will Buckley is still shaking off his thigh injury while there is good news for Watford's other January signing as Stephen McGinn featured in the Hornets' reserve win over Peterborough United on Wednesday.

Tom Cleverley, whose three match ban will not be appealed by Watford, is missing through suspension, but the Watford gaffer revealed that the absence of the talented Manchester United youngster doesn't worry him.

"Jon Harley stepped in when Tom was injured earlier this month in the Sheffield United game and the result we got that day was great.

"We've got a good squad available and I will be putting someone in the team on Saturday who will then have a chance to put his claim for a place forward."

Following a well received Fans' Forum at Vicarage Road on Monday (22 February) evening, Watford boss Malky Mackay said that he was glad the evening had been successful in answering any questions fans still had about the future of the Club.

"I thought that Graham Taylor, Julian Winter and Stuart Timperley all spoke very well and very honestly about where we are at the moment at this football club.

"There are no agendas; we now have a board of directors who are making decisions based on what's best for the football club, not because of what their own shareholding is.

"I feel that overall people have started to realise, through these Fans' Forums, what kind of position the club is in.

"I think everyone understands the situation now, backs up what I'm trying to do and what the board is trying to do.

"We're trying to rebuild the Club and aiming to put on entertaining football here to lure as many fans as possible to Vicarage Road to come and watch youngsters play and to try and win as many games as we can with the squad that we have got."

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