Aidy Boothroyd conceded there was no defence for the actions that led to Tamas Priskin’s dismissal against Cardiff City tonight and acknowledged that the Bluebirds were well worth a share of the spoils.

The Hornets were 2-0 up when the Hungarian striker saw red for lashing out at Darren Purse and his manager said: “No matter what provocation you get you can’t raise your hands to an opponent and he’s done that. I’m disappointed because the way to answer that sort of thing, whatever it was, is to make sure you put the ball in the net and he didn’t. He’ll learn from it.

“Obviously it’s a major turning point for us and we’re disappointed not to get the three points, especially after having such a great start.

“But you’ve got to be fair and I thought Cardiff were well worth the draw and we had to defend for our lives in the end.”