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The Crystal Palace manager, Roy Hodgson, has backed Nigel Pearson to lead Watford up the Premier League table.
Pearson was appointed manager on Friday until the end of the season and watched from the stands as his new side played out a goalless draw here.
The point did little for the hosts’ survival chances and they remain bottom, but it did end a run of three consecutive defeats.
Hodgson was pleased to secure a third clean sheet in seven days and believes the former Leicester manager can turn around Watford’s fortunes. “I know Nigel well and I’m an admirer of his. He organises teams very well and gets his teams playing in a very disciplined and organised way. I think he has the right type of players for that,” he said.
“You get a few bad results and suddenly confidence goes a little and people don’t do what they did the year before. I expect him to do what he does, which is to produce good teams. I would expect Watford to be climbing the table.”
Pearson spoke to the Watford players in the dressing room before kick-off and the interim manager, Hayden Mullins, admitted his leadership qualities were evident immediately. “That’s one of the reasons why the club have appointed him because they know that about him, they know his pedigree, he’s a top manager and he’s got a good group of players to work with,” he said.
Although Mullins was unable to end Watford’s long wait for a league win at home, he was proud of his players and enjoyed being in charge for two games.
He said: “It’s been a great experience. When you step into coaching you look at where you want to go and obviously the development route is the first step and you’ve got to earn your stripes.
“But to have my first experience of managing a team in the Premier League has been absolutely unbelievable.”
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