Claudio Ranieri was left counting the cost of Watford’s mistakes after they suffered a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Brentford.
The Hornets were leading with six minutes remaining through Emmanuel Dennis and looked to have a good chance of winning, which would have put them six points above the relegation zone.
But Pontus Jansson equalised with a header against a Brentford side that had previously been toothless and in added time Watford capitulated completely after William Ekong brought down Saman Ghoddos in the area.
Bryan Mbeumo stepped up to take the penalty and condemn Ranieri to a fourth consecutive defeat.
Ranieri said: “Look, we started well, we scored a goal, but in the second half we fell back too much. I don’t want this. We had to stay together.”
“We missed the chance to score a second goal and made mistakes that led to us conceding two goals. We lost the first battle, but we will do better in the next match.”
“We made three mistakes on the last goal. We missed a short pass. Then we took the ball out of the stadium. Then the penalty, if Willie had kept his cool.
“I was frustrated, but my mind is on the next game. We are stronger than tonight.
“We know we are in a fight to avoid relegation. It is important to react immediately. We have to be stronger than we were last night and be ready for the battle.”
Dennis gave the Hornets the lead from a corner in the 24th minute, moments after Joshua King’s shot hit the post.
The Bees, without key men Ethan Pinnock and Ivan Toney due to Covid-19, looked to have run out of ideas until Jansson headed in Vitaly Janelt’s cross.
Mbeumo then replaced the lethal Toney and followed his absent strike partner’s run to score the winner with his foot, lifting Brentford up to ninth.
Boss Thomas Frank said: “It’s very difficult to describe, it’s an incredible feeling, I must say.
“Everything we’ve been through in terms of injuries, having two very, very important players out with Covid, affected us a lot for this game.
“Then we lost 1-0. We needed to fight, we scored in the 84th minute and we never settled for a draw. We kept fighting and we got the win.
“Oh my God. It feels amazing. We’re going to have two big glasses of wine tonight.”
