Troy Deeney admits huge weight has been lifted after scoring his 100th Watford goal
Monday 26 December 2016 18:40, UK
Troy Deeney admitted his goal drought had been playing on his mind before finally scoring his 100th goal for Watford with a second-half penalty in his side's 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Deeney, who started on the bench after being left out by boss Walter Mazzarri, was introduced after just 14 minutes after an injury to Valon Behrami and he put away the penalty to finally bring up his ton for the Hornets.
And he admitted the milestone had been playing on his mind.
"It's nice to finally get it done," Deeney told Sky Sports.
"I've been having a bit of a stinker recently so it's a huge weight off my shoulders. It's one of those that when I retire I'll look back on how nice it is, but I've got to get 105 now to get to fourth place (in the club standings)."
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Mazzarri was also pleased Deeney reached the landmark, becoming only the fifth player to score 100 goals for the club.
"I'm also very happy with the fact that troy Deeney scored because it was a weight he was bringing into many games," Mazzarri told Sky Sports.
"Now, it's over and I'm very happy to have finished with a point."
Watford were forced into a major reshuffle at the start of the game with Daryll Janmaat and Behrami both forced off inside the opening 15 minutes through injury.
It's only the fourth time in Premier League history a club has had two starting players subbed off in the opening 15 minutes, and Mazzarri was pleased with how his side coped.
He said: "Due to the many emergencies we had before the game and during it we can say that we trained with many different formations.
"And considering everything that happened in the first 15 minutes it ended well.
"To be honest it's never happened to me in my whole career that we had two injuries so early so this can change the future of the game for any team."
"I did not like the performance of my team," he added. "I did not like the way we played tactically or technically but I'm very happy with the spirit of my team which came out in the second half."
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