Zola unimpressed by referee Andrew Madley

Gianfranco Zola broke from habit to criticise the performance of referee Andrew Madley after a horrow show from the official during Watford’s 2-1 defeat by struggling Blackpool.

Madley failed to award Watford two clear-cut penalties – one in each half – for fouls on Lloyd Doyley and Troy Deeney.

Ironically the offender of the foul on Deeney, Gary MacKenzie, popped up to knock in the winner in the dying minutes to hand Paul Ince his first win as Tangerines’ boss.

Watford went ahead when Deeney picked out the run of Cristian Battocchio to lift past Matt Gilks before Tom Ince equalised after the break.

With minutes left, MacKenzie grabbed the winner, profiting from Jonathan Bond’s error.

Speaking afterwards to The Watford Observer, Zola admitted he felt let down by the level of officiating:

“It was a day made like this because of one man on the pitch today and he was not wearing a yellow or orange shirt,’ stated Zola.

“It is very upsetting. I would love to spend more of my time talking about somebody else because I don`t like talking about referees but today he made a difference and I feel so upset, not because of him, but for my players because they worked very hard in difficult conditions and deserved more.’

The Hornet’s head coach was quick to point out however that with a number of forced changes to his side, the players were evidently tired:

“I think the point is that we started to get tired. Cristian Battocchio worked a lot, also Troy Deeney got tired and I had to change Fernando Forestieri. Then you start to lose Mark Yeates, who had played a fantastic game but he felt the fact he hadn`t played for a while.

“There were a few players who hadn`t played for a while,’ admitted Zola.

Watford travel to Oakwell next weekend to take on Barnsley.