Watford' Adrian Boothroyd believes the Darius Henderson "fear factor" earned his side three points at Sheffield Wednesday.
Boothroyd praises striker after win over Wednesday
Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd believes the "fear factor" around striker Darius Henderson earned his side a 2-1 win over 10-man Sheffield Wednesday.
Henderson grabbed his sixth goal of the season in the sixth minute against Wednesday and then won a penalty for Marlon King to convert as Boothroyd's side threatened to run riot in the opening 20 minutes.
Graham Kavanagh's goal for the visitors before half-time changed the tide of the match and the Owls should have stolen a point with a spirited second-half display against the Coca-Cola Championship leaders.
Boothroyd said: "Darius brings a fear factor to our games now.
Defenders in this division are scared of him and rightly so because he scores goals.
Experience
"He couldn't buy a goal last year in the Premier League but that was a great experience for him and now with the emergence of Tamas Priskin and the arrival of Nathan Ellington he has had to raise his game.
"He's a lot more alert now and he causes havoc physically."
After the opening 20 minutes the Hornets looked poor and Boothroyd admitted that his side are far from hitting top gear.
He said: "In the first half an hour we played some wonderful stuff. It was everything we had worked on but then it got scrappy and we never found our form."
Wednesday boss Brian Laws was unhappy with the dismissal of midfielder Jermaine Johnson but was pleased with his side's character.
Johnson saw red in the 88th minute for a second booking after a challenge on winger Adam Johnson and Laws said: "The sending off was very harsh.
Punch
"Jermaine took a punch in the face early in the second half and got booked for his reaction. Then he had to go to right-back because Frankie Simek had to come off with a kick to the ankle and he did well for us.
"I don't think it was a sending off but it didn't cost us the game."
Laws admitted his side had failed to heed his warning about Watford's physical style of play but felt that after the opening 20 minutes his side were the better.
He said: "The first 20 minutes was like men against girls. We've got to stand up to bullying. They bullied us out of the points.
"We'd explained to the players what they're all about. They're athletic, they get the ball forward and they come at you in the opening 20 minutes but if you get through that the game opens up."
