Ryan Porteous has been told he can be really pleased and proud of his display against Sunderland by his Watford boss.
The former Hibs star headed home for the visitors as they suffered from a last gasp leveller from a brilliant Patrick Roberts strike to share the spoils in a stunning game at the Stadium of Light. Chris Wilder's men held a two goal advantage with Christian Kabasele scoring the opener after just 17 minutes before Scotland international Porteous doubled their advantage. But just one minute later Luke O'Nien gave the home fans something to cheer and hope with 20 minutes of the match still to play.
Then it was a piece of magic from former Celtic star and fans' favourite Roberts that denied the Hornets all three points as he kept his own side in the play-off mixer. The wild celebrations also made it to the touchline with Tony Mowbray suffering a HAMSTRING injury.
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Both Watford goals were put down to work on the training field by Wilder, who reserved special praise for Porteous. He explained to the official club website: “We asked Imrân [Louza] to take a bit of pace off his deliveries today, and it worked. You don’t have to whizz it in, you just need to put it in a good area and have the desire to go and head the ball.
“Set plays are an important part of the game, and I’d like us to be associated with scoring from them. We did a bit to play off the right areas, and it was pleasing to score two goals like that today.”
He continued: "We defended well in general, and we wanted to defend which was good to see. I thought Ryan had another great game, and today was a brilliant experience for him in front of 45,000 fans.
"He was up against Jack Clarke as well - who’s had a terrific second half of the season - so he can be really pleased and proud.
“I talked about other youngsters, but I’ve played and managed here [Sunderland] so I know what it’s like, and it’s a difficult place to come. I’d imagine a lot of people expected us to turn up and roll over, so I’m pleased with our approach, and I hope the travelling fans were too.
"We’ve got one more game to come, so we’ll have a look at the squad in the week and see what we can do to get a competitive team out for that one.”
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