Carl Dickinson has welcomed the comparisons being made between himself and former Watford fans favourite Paul Robinson.

Dickinson,24, was only signed from Stoke City this summer but he has already developed an affinity with the Vicarage Road faithful due to his whole-hearted approach and appreciation of the crowd.

His attitude and no-nonsense style of defending is similar to that of Hornets academy graduate Paul Robinson, who made more than 250 outings for the club before joining West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers.

“I definitely appreciate the comparisons with Paul Robinson because he is a quality player who has been playing in the Premier League for a number of years now,” said Dickinson, who joined Watford for an initial fee understood to be around £250,000.

“If I can get to play as many Premier League games as he has then happy days.”

Dickinson had only scored one goal in 154 appearances going into Tuesday night's game but he grabbed the all-important equaliser 12 minutes from time with an excellent strike from 20 yards.

“It was a little bit special and I don't get many so that was a good one for me,” Dickinson said.

“I have been getting a bit of stick off Woany [assistant manager Ian Woan] the last few days so it was nice to score. Like I said, they don't come often so when I do score I like to celebrate a bit more than most.”