Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock defended his players after their 5-1 home thrashing by Watford.

Warnock felt the game hinged on a penalty appeal being denied when 1-0 down. It looked a clear foul when Daryl Janmaat brought down Josh Murphy.

The manager said: "I had to calm the players down at half-time. It was just so obvious. I have never experienced anything like that really. It wasn't even a difficult decision.

"I have come to you first and calm down. The goals were giveaways and pathetic really. We will keep fighting. We are going to have games like these where we play against good teams. They are a good side but it doesn't half help when you get decisions going for you like that!

"We have to be stronger mentally. We can't let decisions like that affect our game and collapse like that. We have to grit our teeth and come back with another answer."