Boothroyd hopes refs won't favour bigger clubs
Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd is hopeful referees will treat his Premiership newcomers fairly throughout the season and not favour bigger clubs.
The Hornets, who are at home to West Ham tonight, were beaten 2-1 at Everton on Saturday in their first game back in the top flight.
They left Goodison Park convinced they had been the victims of injustice when referee Peter Walton awarded a penalty that was converted into a deciding goal after the ball had hit Chris Powell on the head, not an arm.
However, Boothroyd insisted: “I’m told that all things equal themselves out although there are some people who say they equal themselves out more for bigger clubs than smaller ones. I’m just hoping that as we go along we will get a fair ride and I’m sure we will because the officials are professional people.”
Indeed, though Boothroyd was convinced the penalty award had been a blunder he insisted it had not been the sole reason for the reverse.
He said: “You have to stay away from the emotion of it and stick to the facts and statistics. There is always a reason why you are beaten.
“Obviously you hope you don’t get decisions like we did – you hope you don’t get too many of those and perhaps that will be out of the way now for the rest of the season. But we won’t feel sorry for ourselves. I won’t be moaning and crying about what happened on Saturday. It happened, it’s done and we move on.
“I have said my piece to the referee but if we had taken our chances we would have won the game, it's as simple as that.”
West Ham had a happier start to the campaign by beating Charlton 3-1 at Upton Park on a day when new recruits Lee Bowyer and Carlton Cole both impressed.
The pair are regarded as players with points to prove but Boothroyd insisted he had plenty of those in his squad as well.
He said: “I have 11 of those and another nine in the squad as well. We won’t be paying any special attention to any of their players but there will be a big respect for their team. And we have to make sure that by the end of it they will give us some respect as well, which I’m sure they will.”
