Watford produced a strong performance to hold Sunderland to a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light

Watford boss Tom Cleverley praised his players for their performance against Sunderland but admitted he was left disappointed by their ‘schoolboy’ mistakes in the closing ten minutes.

Watford came from behind to take a deserved lead at the Stadium of Light thanks to goals from Edo Kayembe and Imran Louza. The visitors looked well set to take all three points before Dennis Cirkin scored a late equaliser from a corner, before Wilson Isidor and Milan Aleksic both missed from 1-v-1 opportunities.

Cleverley admitted that his side had missed the leadership of Moussa Sissoko, who was forced off with cramp as the game came to a conclusion. But despite that frustration, he said he was pleased with the level of performance his players produced in the game.

The Hornets boss praised 18-year-old striker Mamadou Doumbia for an excellent full debut and goalscorer Kayembe for a ‘warrior’ performance in midfield.

“I thought for 60, 65 minutes we were excellent,” Cleverley said.

“We took control of possession and though we didn't create too many chances with it, we had a real sense of control and frustrated the home support. On the balance of the game we deserved to lead and I'm disappointed we didn't manage the game better at the end. We're better than that. We were nowhere near good enough for the last ten minutes.

“We've conceded from two corner kicks, we can improve as a team. I don't want to get caught up with the negatives because there were a lot of positives. The debut of Mamadou Doumbia has hopefully settled people in terms of I was always confident we had a capable number nine in the building and he's certainly proved that today. He's got a lot of quality, his hold-up play today was excellent occupying two experienced central defenders. His desire and quality - it was a very complete performance that he should take a lot of heart from.

“We showed character going behind on the ball, to dominate possession and frustrate. I'm really pleased with the performance, just gutted for the lads and the supporters who set off so early that we've not managed to see it out - and it's a soft goal that's caused it. I am disappointed that it feels like we've held on to it at the end because we deserved more. The last ten minutes, we didn't manage well. It was not very good shall I say - I didn't put it like in the dressing room! There was some schoolboy stuff which I'm disappointed about but that's something I can fix. The general performance was really pleasing. I can fix that last ten minutes but I am disappointed.”

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