Reaction: Bond On Cardiff Draw

Jonathan Bond said he’s glad to be getting back into the rhythm of regular gametime after starting a second successive match in the Hornets’ goal.

Having featured in the FA Cup at Fulham last week, the 31-year-old made his first league appearance since October in Watford’s 1-1 draw at Cardiff City.

“It’s about me doing the best I can in these few months and trying to find some rhythm,” said Bond, who is deputising for the injured Daniel Bachmann.

“I found some rhythm when I came in earlier in the season but then went two or three months when Dan was playing and I didn’t play until the FA Cup game.

“So now I’ve got to find that rhythm of playing every three days and I’m looking forward to getting some games.

“I feel like I’ve had a solid start so far and hopefully now we can start picking up wins.”

Vakoun Bayo’s late leveller secured a point and Bond said the Hornets were focused on being hard to beat against the Bluebirds.

“I think the place that we’ve been in the last few games, not having positive results, we wanted to be defensively solid and try to keep a clean sheet,” he said.

“I thought we defended well in the main but maybe lost – like Clevs said after the game – a bit of composure in possession of the ball.

“Once we went 1-0 down the boys showed fight and spirit, as we have done most of the season whenever we’ve gone behind, especially when subs come on and make a difference.

“It felt like a big goal. I know it’s not the result we wanted, but to be 1-0 down in the run we’ve been on, to really push and be rewarded with a goal, we really deserved that.

“We know we can play a lot better and we’re aiming to be one of the best teams in the league and pushing to be in the play-offs.”

It was a game lacking clear-cut chances but Bond was called into action on occasion, particularly when tipping a curling Chris Willock shot wide in the first half.

“When he cut inside you can either reverse it or go on the outside,” said the goalkeeper.

“We were both at West Brom together so I knew him a little bit, and was thankful I could get a hand on it.

“Other than that they didn’t have too many clear-cut chances. As much as we weren’t looking threatening, I don’t think they were either.”