Flores laments mixed Hornets performance

Quique Sanchez Flores conceded Watford made hard work of securing their 3-2 win over relegated Aston Villa at Vicarage Road.

The hosts trailed 2-1 until two goals from Troy Deeney in the 90th and 93rd minute completed a dramatic late turnaround.

Earlier, Ciaran Clark had headed Villa in front before Almen Abdi's free-kick on the stroke of half-time made it 1-1.

Jordan Ayew then restored the visitors' lead early into the second half, only for Deeney's late double to secure Watford's sixth home Premier League win of the campaign.

"We played really well during the match but conceded two silly goals and we had to work very hard to get the result," Flores told Sky Sports. 

"We had a lot of offensive play and a lot of possession, around 65% and finally, in the last part of the match, we found the goals.

"We played well in the first 20 minutes, but after we conceded the first goal, the match changed a lot.

"We just had to keep going in attack, keep the goal attempts going and it would have been completely unfair if we'd have lost this match.

"We have lost some matches in the last few minutes this season and have a lot of memories of that, but it was the opposite and it was great to score in the last minutes."

The Spaniard was quick to praise the decisive contribution of Deeney, who took his league tally for the season to 11 with a fine header and a crisp finish from the edge of the box.

"I'm happy for Troy because he fought a lot," said Sanchez.

"He told me at half-time that he was playing with some pain in his stomach, but it was important for him to stay on the pitch.

"Finally we found him and found the goals."

The result sees Watford remain in 12th place ahead of next Sunday's trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.