WITH the Easter period racking up two points in two games for the Hornets, Malky Mackay has told www.watfordfc.com that he was more than pleased with the performances, if not a little disappointed with the final results.

He said: "I thought the performance level of the players was great.

"We were unfortunate not to get two wins. Preston is a tough place to go and we really gave a good account of ourselves, but for a couple of incredible saves, we would have won the game.

"At our home game against one of the top teams in the division we took the game to them, maybe under different circumstances we might have come out with three points from that game as well."

The Hornets boss continued, praising the fans for their support at Vicarage Road on the Bank Holiday afternoon.

"The fans were magnificent on Monday" Malky said, "there was a great atmosphere and our supporters saw the way we took the game to them and that made them get behind us.

"They were cheering us on right until the final whistle and I was delighted by that."

After the two games in three days, the Watford manager expressed his concerns at the inevitable outcomes of the hectic schedule on his squad.

"I still can't understand why we're playing Saturday and Monday over the Easter period in a day and age where the football at this level is so physical and athletic" he commented.

"We played a very hard and tough game last Saturday at Preston, drove four hours back to Watford and then had to get the players patched back up again ready for Monday's game.

"It's quite incredible when there's other points in the year where we have big breaks.

"I understand that because it's a period of time where people have time off work then it's an opportunity to get a good crowd to the games, but we should be looking at games on the Friday and Monday instead, like West Brom had."

With Henri Lansbury and Jon Harley both suspended for the game against The Pilgrims and various injuries to deal with, the Hornets may look quite a changed team on Saturday afternoon.

"Henri and Jon being out compounds the problem we have ahead of this weekend" explained the gaffer.

Malky: "We've got to make sure we go out with the same attitude as we have in the last few games"

"The amount of injuries that happened at all the clubs after Monday's games aren't a coincidence to the schedule we had last weekend.

"Players are going for scans and check ups all over the country and it's no different with us - the weekend took its toll on us too.

"There's been various injury issues over the last week or so, thanks to the great work of the medical team this year we haven't been in this position before, but the minute you get five or six injuries to the starting players, that shows how low on the ground we are.

"It's going to be last minute decisions on a few players for Saturday.

"We'll have an old bench or a young bench dependant on if Sean, myself, Alec and David Kerslake are ready to go!"

The Golden Boys' opponents tomorrow are only two places below the home side in the Championship table so both teams will be looking to claim the vital three points at the final whistle.

"We will have a similar approach to Saturday as the West Brom game.

"We've got a team coming to us who want to win the game. West Brom came to beat us, needing three points to be promoted and Plymouth need the points on Saturday as well.

"We've got to make sure we go out with the same attitude as we have in the last few games.

"We need to apply ourselves in the exact same way as we did against Preston and West Brom in terms of the attitude, application and energy that was given.

"If the players need any sort of confidence boost they should watch the performance from Monday.

"They've shown a real willingness and attitude all season and so they need to give more of what we had against West Brom.

"We've got to be fast out of the blocks."

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