Football
PA Sport 9y

Watford's cup exit not because of red card, says Quique Sanchez Flores

Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores refused to blame debutant Miguel Britos' red card for seeing his Hornets make an early exit in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.

Marnick Vermijl was the Preston hero as they defeated their Premier League visitors 1-0 in the second round on Tuesday. 

Flores' team -- unbeaten so far in the Premier League this season -- failed to muster any real chances and saw Britos sent off with 15 minutes remaining for an off-the-ball elbow.

"We are not pleased with the result of course but I think we had different feelings during the game," Flores said. "In the first half we kept the ball and tried to play. In the second half we had control of the midfield and were really close to the draw.

"We had two or three consecutive attempts but after the sending off it is completely different.

"I don't like to concede goals, including early goals. We conceded a goal from an offensive throw-in. For me this is a big disappointment. We open the defence with these kind of situations."

On Britos' dismisall, he added: "I think the red card was not fair. We play in England, the contact is permitted and this kind of contact is so soft it's not a red card.

"It is maybe a second yellow card and he is sent off the same but the action is not violent. I respect the referee but he did not deserve to be sent off.

"When we had the opportunity to put Britos in the team last week, I thought it had been too long. He had lots of difficulties today, I know, but after two months it is normal.

"He said sorry. He is a good professional and he knows he made a mistake. He put his arm against the breast of the player. For that I think it is maybe a second yellow card but not a red. I think we will appeal."

Simon Grayson insisted his Preston side fully deserved their place in the third round  -- where they will host Bournemouth -- after matching Watford inch-for-inch at Deepdale.

Vermijl reacted quickest to Josh Brownhill's scuffed shot to score what proved to be the winner in the eighth minute.

And Preston manager Grayson insisted he could not have been prouder of his troops, even if Watford did make seven changes from the stalemate with Southampton.

"No matter who they had out on the pitch tonight, they are a Premier League team and have players who have played at the highest level," he said. "We knew we had to be organised and disciplined and limit the space in certain areas of the pitch.

"We got an early goal to settle us down. We matched them and competed and limited them to few opportunities.

"Marnick reacted quickly. We played him on the right side of a three and we knew he was capable of playing in that position.

"We passed it around well. I thought we were worthy winners to be fair. We make changes but we don't think we are weakening the team. We are changing the outlook of the team.

"The lads who have come in have a settled back four so it's nice to keep a clean sheet. The good thing tonight is that we managed to make the changes and still put in a decent performance.

"The players should be very proud of what they have done because they have some terrific players. It's not their priority obviously but when you're in this competition, we want to progress."

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