William Troost-Ekong described a dressing room full of relief and "general happiness" after Watford's win over Norwich City on Tuesday night.

The Hornets recovered from arguably their worst performance of the season in the game before against Luton with possibly their best, beating the league leaders and putting themselves just one win away from sealing their return to the Premier League.

Speaking to Hive Live after the match, the defender said the win eased some of the pressure that had built in the wake of the weekend's derby defeat and that the focus now was on getting the job done in the next match.

"There was a lot of shouting and a lot of dancing," said Troost-Ekong about the dressing room. "You know, general happiness.

"I think everyone was just relieved because it was a massive game. We tried to keep our heads cool and absorb the pressure that we had today and I think it's good to let it go.

 

"We had ten minutes of going crazy and now everyone's already talking about Saturday."

The Nigerian said that the Hornets were motivated by the loss at Kenilworth Road and that the team had no interest in being part of an exhibition match for Norwich, who could have won the league title with a victory.

"I think the last game we didn't start well," he said. "We were on the back for throughout the whole game really, so everyone was upset about that.

Action Images

Action Images

"You have to try and use moments to motivate you for the next game and we did that. And we also knew that they were going to be playing without any pressure, so you need to get at them from the start because we don't want to become part of a showcase game for them, and I think from the first whistle, they knew that we were here to get something and we did that throughout the game."

Troost-Ekong has been an important part of a defence that has now kept 21 clean sheets so far this campaign, something which has helped their push for promotion.

The defender lays credit for that at the feet of his teammates and head coach Xisco Munoz for his attacking brand of football.

"I think it's it's a team effort," he said. "Since the manager came in, the main thing that he changed is that he wants us to play further away from the goal, so we try and stay high as much as we can.

"Today we tried to play in Norwich's half as much as we could, and I think if you stay away from your own goal then it's already harder for them to try and score, and the moments that they do get closer to our goal, I think we are organised well. If they do get past that, then Danny's [Bachmann] been outstanding throughout the season as well, so I think it's quite hard.

"There's different levels to it, but everyone is chipping in because we're getting good pressure on the ball, so there's no moment where a team can shoot freely or really get in front of our keeper.

"I can't remember a lot of moments where team breaks clean through and gets a one-on-one chance and that is credit to the whole team because everyone is following their man and everyone's trying to get pressure on the ball."