Watford boss Nigel Pearson has shrugged off their FA Cup replay defeat at Tranmere Rovers.
Pearson was pleased with the opportunity to take a closer look at some fringe members of his squad against Tranmere Rovers, despite the disappointment of the FA Cup fixture's eventual result.
“We learned a lot about our young players tonight and I thought the senior players who were involved were excellent," said the Head Coach.
“[Christian] Kabasele, [José] Holebas and [Andre] Gray did a lot of good things and set really good examples. We found out quite a lot about some of our fringe players.
“The added benefit is some of our youngsters have been introduced to men's football, and welcome to it! It was a really tough game, congratulations to Tranmere. It would have been nice to get to penalties after we got to extra time but it wasn't to be."
Pearson was keen not to run down the competition or the night's victors, who can now look forward to a home tie against Manchester United on Sunday.
“I don't want to talk in any other way than to say it was a good cup tie, congratulations to Micky [Mellon] and his staff," he said.
“You can see how important it was to them as well. I think he's a really good football man. It's a good night for him and Tranmere, so I want to congratulate him.
“For people who thought we weren't too interested in it [the FA Cup match], we were, but what we couldn't do was risk too many first team players. Our selection reflects the situation we're in, and that's that the Premier League is the most important thing."