Monday 28 December 2015 19:12, UK
Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores defended Nathan Ake after he was sent off in the home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea loanee Ake was shown a straight red card for a high kick on Erik Lamela in the second half of Spurs' 2-1 win at Vicarage Road.
The youngster was dismissed with the game finely poised at 1-1 and the decision incensed both the home crowd and Flores on the touchline.
But the Hornets boss said afterwards: "I don't like to talk about the decisions of the referee. It's difficult to play against 11 with 10 players but the decision is the decision and we need to accept it.
"Nathan is young and disappointed but I support him more than ever today. He is a fair player who plays in a good way. He's the kind of player you need to love.
"He has apologised to his team-mates but he is a footballer. He went to the ball with his foot but it's football, sometimes these things happens. He doesn't need to apologise.
"I am proud with the players because they fought a lot, they having amazing spirit and desire to play for the fans every time, and against every tough team. But the first feeling for us is sadness because we were really close to earning a point against an amazing team."
Watford will end 2015 with 29 points from 19 games and sitting six points outside the Premier League's top-four places.
Despite defeat to Spurs, Flores insisted they "have a lot of reasons to be happy" with the first half of the season after promotion from the Championship.
"If we thought we would finish the first leg in seventh position with this number of points it would have been impossible to think about," he said.
"The reason is the hard work that the players are doing every day. Things are very positive and everyone is saying that Watford is going well.
"It is a complement to us that teams change their shape to play against us. We have the respect of the opponents, which is important to us.
"We are more and more competitive and closer and closer to winning these types of games."
