Sean Dyche hails 'immense' Adrian Mariappa after Watford win

Ian Gibb11 April 2012

When Watford boss Sean Dyche marched purposefully onto the pitch of his old Den stamping ground to give a clenched fist salute to the 600 travelling fans, he had to break his stride to emotionally engage his central defence giant Adrian Mariappa.

Dyche, a one time Millwall defender, had seen Mariappa break Millwall hearts on the way to a crucial 2-0 away win that broke three consecutive Championship defeats. It left Millwall dangling over the precipice again, directly above the relegation zone.

But much more important, Mariappa had single mindedly shrugged off the disappointment of a deadline day transfer failure as moved to the Premier League with Wigan and then Newcastle, broke down.

He could easily have taken the same way out as England Under 21 striker Marvin Sordell who was removed from the Watford side within two hours of kick-off at the request of owner Laurence Bassini as first Cardiff and former Hornets boss Malky Mackay bid £3million and then Bolton gazumped them with a better offer.

Instead Mariappa defied a bitterly cold night at the New Den while goals from Troy Deeney and Joe Garner left Millwall with their fourth defeat in six games and a fifth setback at home this season. Watford won tbhis fixture 6-1 last season.

Dyche, with a voice that sounded like his throat had been raked with sandpaper, croaked: 'Adrian has had a hell of a lot going on in his head today - none of it his own making, let me make it clear.
'So to come out and lead a defensive performance like he did speaks volumes of him as a person and a professional player. He was immense in everything he did. I'll tell you one thing, he was exceptional. To see someomne have a day like that with people ringing him, friends ringing him, agents ringing him and then face what he had to, shows what he is - an immaculate professional."

And with the deadline ticking towards the close, Dyche added: "I want to lock him in a cupboard and turn all the phones off!"

Millwall were simply dreadful, obsessed by playing just one way, getting the ball out wide to sling in centres that Mariappa and his central defence partner Nyron Nosworthy were happy to head away all night.

And even when Millwall did fashion a scoring chance, former Watford striker Darius Henderson headed wasstefully high.

Henderson did have a chance to redeem himself in front of the travelling fans with a late penalty given away by Watford keeper Scott Loach - but to the delight of Watford's Henderson baiters his spot kick was weak and easily saved by Loach to his left.

Watford new boy Alex Kacaniklic had a hand in both goals, putting in Deeney to rifle the ball inside the right post in the 35th minute before having a shot that was half saved by Tony Forde, only for Garner to stab in the rebound on 58 minutes.

Millwall boss Kenny Jackett groaned: "We were flat, didn't take the game to them, didn't do enough. Two poor goals, the second from when Lloyd Doyley made a run from left-back and got inside three of our players. We didn't have a player to go past someone."

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