Troy Deeney says penalty pressure without fans was worse than at packed Wembley for FA Cup semi

Brace: Deeney struck a double from 12 yards to keep Watford on course for survival
Getty Images

Watford captain Troy Deeney says he felt under more pressure taking his penalties in an empty stadium against Newcastle, than in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley during last season’s FA Cup semi-final.

Deeney scored twice from the spot on Saturday as Watford beat Newcastle 2-1 at Vicarage Road.

The win was a huge one for Nigel Pearson’s side, who are three points clear of the relegation places with three games to go.

And Deeney has revealed the pressure on him to score the penalties on Saturday was greater than against Wolves in last year’s FA Cup semi-final.

“It was probably more pressure than the Wolves one because we know what’s at stake,” Deeney told Watford’s website.

“We can’t afford to be naive to the situation that we’re in. We’re in a relegation fight.

“It’s a massive win but we’re ready to go Friday [against West Ham]. I don’t want to get carried away with it, it’s not ground-breaking stuff but the biggest thing for me and a lot of people at this club is making sure that next season we come back to a Premier League football club when the fans are eventually allowed back in. That’s the most important thing.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT