Ian Holloway was disappointed after Millwall were beaten 3-1 by Watford at Vicarage Road today, but said he would take many positives from the performance.

Millwall took the lead after 12 minutes when Martyn Woolford manoeuvred space inside the box and drilled a low shot past Heurelho Gomes.

But Matej Vydra and Daniel Tözsér both scored to put Watford 2-1 up before half-time.

Tözsér’s goal came after Millwall had what appeared to be a blatant penalty denied after Ricardo Fuller was brought down by Joel Ekstrand. 

The Hornets killed the game off just after the hour mark as the visitors failed to react to a quickly taken free-kick and Gianni Munari found the bottom corner with a crisp strike.

Holloway said: “What I saw from my group pleased me. There were two good teams out there today.

“We scored a fantastic goal, but we’ve got to do better from there.

“Their (Watford’s) team looks really good and it’s a tough place to come.

“But I thought my team played very well and how we’ve lost by two goals, I really don’t know.

“There at the top of the table and we weren’t far off them.”

The 51-year-old refused to comment of the officials’ performance, but admitted he was surprised by a number of decisions.

Holloway said: “That was probably the strangest game I’ve seen in 18 years of management.

“If I said what I feel I would probably get fined.

“At important times, particularly away from home, you need things to go your way.

“Rick (Ricardo Fuller) never goes down. Rick tried to beat people – that’s what he does.

“We felt we should have had something and we didn’t get it.”

Ollie added: “Did Watford play well? I think they did. Did we play quite well? Yep.

“Did the referee have a good game? Sometimes that makes a huge difference.”

Holloway refused to divert responsibility, however, and claimed his side must stop letting their emotions affect their performance. 

He explained: “At the end of the day, we need those things to go for us, but we’ve got to defend better than that.

“When he blows that whistle it’s given.

“You need to deal with the next bit.

“We should have dealt with the third goal, end of story. We were still arguing about the decision and we need to learn very quickly.    

“I think we’ve got to stop getting so emotional, I think we’ve got to get away from ‘no-one likes us we don’t care’, I really do.

“We’ve got to be professional.”

Holloway is adamant if Millwall can replicate today’s performance, results will soon improve.

The Lions boss also expects Danny Shittu to be available for Millwall’s next fixture against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday night.

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