Reaction: Cleverley On Touchline Ban

Hornets boss Tom Cleverley will be banned from the touchline for his team’s next game – away at Plymouth Argyle on Friday November 22 – after picking up his third caution of this season.

Of the eight yellow cards brandished by referee Anthony Backhouse during Watford’s defeat of Oxford United on Friday night, half-a-dozen headed in the home side’s direction – one of which was Cleverley’s third of the campaign, invoking an automatic one-game sanction.

“I’m not perfect and I need to get better with controlling my own reactions,” said the Golden Boys’ gaffer with a rueful smile after the game.

“It’s not possible to take all of the emotion out of it on a personal level. I guess that’s just a reflection of how much getting those three points for us means to me and how emotion plays a part in the type of character I am.”

Added TC: “Tonight has ended with seven or eight yellow cards being shown and that usually reflects a really bad-tempered encounter, but the game was nothing like that despite there being plenty of passion on show from both teams.”

Meanwhile, Festy Ebosele was among the Watford players to be cautioned; a fifth yellow card of the season for him, so he’ll miss out on the forthcoming trip to Home Park courtesy of an automatic one-match ban.