Preston North End boss Alan Irvine admitted his side's poor defending cost them the chance of ending their dismal recent form.
>> Watford 2 PNE 1A straight ball from Tommy Smith led to Watford's first goal when it should have been dealt with and when Will Hoskins helped the ball over the top, Smith was allowed too much space to run on and score the second.
Sean St Ledger had put North End ahead but the 2-1 defeat leaves North End in 12th in the Championship.
North End have now lost four in a row after their bright start and Irvine knows that they must stop conceding cheap goals if they are to remain in the promotion picture.
He said: "We deserved to lose because of our defending in the first half.
"The defending for both goals was terrible but they are the only four defenders we have fit at the moment.
"We created chances after the break but we didn't create enough that our domination warranted.
"We are conceding goals through some poor defending and not being clinical enough in the box.
"It's a case of putting it right at both ends of the pitch. We were very difficult to score against from January onwards when we were at the bottom of the league and we need to get back to that.
"We've conceded 10 in the last four which is a major concern. If we can get back to that then we will be ok."
Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd said: "We had to defend for our lives in the second half but thankfully the work that we did saw us through."
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