Javi Gracia acknowledged Watford had enough chances to “kill the game” in the first half but felt Fulham had done enough to get something out of the game after the break following the 1-1 draw.

The Hornets created enough chances to have been two or three goals to the good after Andre Gray’s early opener, but they were to pay the price for not extending their lead as the hosts improved after the break and equalised through Aleksandar Mitrovic.

The Hornets boss said: “I think we have played really well in the first when we could score more goals and kill the game. But in the second they change their shape, they played with two midfielders and we didn’t adjust our high press, they feel a little bit more comfortable and they create some chances and score their goal.

“After the game I think we may have deserved a better result, but they played well, they create their chances and score one goal. I think it’s fair.”

Asked if he was worried at the break that Watford were not further ahead, Gracia said: “In the first half we played much better and it was our chance to win today. After we tried because we didn’t change anything, we tried to keep our press high, we tried to recover more balls in the opposition half, we tried to keep creating chances, but we made a defensive mistake and they scored a goal.”

Fulham could also have been down to 10 men by half-time after Timothy Fosu-Mensah escaped with a yellow card for a dangerous-looking challenge on Troy Deeney, but Gracia opted against getting drawn into any criticism of Martin Atkinson.

He said: “In those situations I prefer to respect the referee’s decision because they know better than me. I’m on the bench and from my position I didn’t see the action (foul) really well, but I try to support them because I know it is not easy to do his work.

“I’m not disappointed with the result because I’m proud of the work we have done today. It’s a pity because after a good game we only get one point but I think we are keeping the same level as in other games and I’m sure keeping this level in the next games we’ll be able to get another win.”