Watford defender Sebastian Prodl was left in no doubt the Hornets were "unlucky" to be beaten by a Stoke City side he labelled "not dangerous" at Vicarage Road today.

The Austrian centre-back was one of few players in yellow to emerge with any credit from the club's first home defeat since August, but felt the Hornets, who failed to register a shot on target in the second half, were hard done by in the lunchtime kick-off.

Prodl also took aim at referee Bobby Madley, but was more unimpressed by the Potters' creativity in the final third.

He said: "We had a plan, and I think they played good football, but they weren’t dangerous with the way they played.

"They didn’t create great chances, and scored a set-piece. They had some counter attacks. Shaqiri had a good game but didn’t manage to create big chances.

"We weren’t able to play our game how we would expect. It was a close game, it was tough, it wasn’t a good game and in the end it’s an unlucky result.

"We’re disappointed, but we have to carry on, step up again and keep focusing on the next game."

The 29-year-old revealed his admiration for Stoke after the game, but was less complimentary about their performance in Hertfordshire.

"Stoke are a good team, it was an equal game and we lost 1-0 unfortunately," he said. "We were unlucky, it was a close game again and Stoke have been in the Premier League for 10 years, we were equal to them but I don’t think it’s a big shame to lose against Liverpool or Stoke.

"The way we lost wasn’t that good, but I didn’t see they were that good."