Tom Cleverley has urged Watford not to panic, but knows they were well beaten in their 1-0 defeat away at Luton Town.

The midfielder's return to the pitch was one of the only positives from a poor trip up the M1 as the Hornets struggled to create anything of worth against their derby day rivals.

Speaking to Hive Live after the match, the substitute said the focus now has to be on getting a response on Tuesday night at league leaders Norwich City with promotion still in their hands.

“We have to bounce back,” said Cleverley.

“It’s definitely not time to panic. Our great run we’ve been on has come to an end, but we knew we’d have bad results and it’s how we react to that.

“We’ve got to keep trusting the game plan and we have the experienced players to deal with that. It’s in our hands, so we’ll look forward to Tuesday now.”

Cleverley was introduced to the game midway through the second half, with the Watford midfield struggling to gain any control of the game.

The former Manchester United man said they could have no complaints about the defeat.

“We were a little bit flat,” he said. “It was similar to the Middlesbrough game, we couldn’t really get going and our creative side didn’t kick into action.

“They pressed us well and they were on the front foot a lot. It’s hard to pick the bones out of it right now, but we’ve got no complaints. We were beaten by the better team today."