Bristol City boss Michael Skubala praised the extraordinary assist record of Rio Cardines after the Crystal Palace loanee’s cross set up Dom Ballard’s superb first half winner.
It was the sixth time already this season that Cardines had created a City goal. The Trinidad and Tobago international’s chip into the box was met with a brilliant glancing header from Ballard on 31 minutes.
Skubala had made seven changes following successive defeats and was delighted to see the players brought in achieve a deserved three points to move into the Championship play-off zone.
He said: “We showed really good intensity in the first half and created a lot of chances. Then in the second we had more opportunities in transition to extend our lead.
“Rio Cardines is still learning the game tactically, but his record of assists this season is exceptional. We knew we were signing a very talented young player, but his dead ball striking is so impressive.
“We just have to look after him and hope he gets back from the international break in one piece. That goes for all the players involved for their respective countries.
“Seven changes showed the strength of our squad. I wanted to freshen things up at a busy period and the players brought in responded really well.
“It was a typical Dom Ballard goal from what I have seen of him in recent years. I thought he was really good tonight, particularly in the first half.
“The players not involved in internationals will now have a short break, but it’s important we keep working hard to build on what we have done so far.
“At the start of the season, if anyone had offered me fifth place at this stage I would have bitten their hands off because it is a new group of players and there will be more to come from them as we develop.”
Watford head coach Alessio Dionisi felt his team had performed as well as possible in the face of a crippling injury list.
He said: “I am not happy because we have lost four times in five matches, but we have a lot of problems and have been forced to field the same players too often.
“I wanted to make more changes, but we do not have enough fit players. The ones picked tonight did as well as they could.
“Now it’s important that the international break gives players time to recover from injuries.
“We have four full-backs alone out, as well as other players. Some should be fit to return for our next game.
“We probably deserved a draw. It was not easy for me to see our late penalty appeal at the end, but now that I have seen it, the penalty probably should have been given
“But I don’t like to complain. With no VAR, it is not easy for referees.
“It is not easy to play away with six young players in the team. We had players out of position with little time to have worked on a change of shape.
“We will have a training session tomorrow and then the players will have three days off. After that we need to work hard because I wanted to arrive at the break with more points.”
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