The decision not to send off Christian Kabasele for a foul on Adam Armstrong when clean through was down to the positioning of a covering defender, referee Andy Woolmer told Tony Mowbray.

Armstrong raced onto a Ben Brereton pass midway through the first half, only to be pulled back by the defender around 30 yards from goal.

A yellow card was the punishment handed out by Woolmer who felt the presence of Ben Wilmot was enough to deem it wasn't denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Mowbray’s view differed to that, feeling that Armstrong’s pace meant that there was no chance of anyone catching him once he raced clear.

Darius Charles was sent off for a similar foul on Armstrong earlier in the season, when Rovers beat Wycombe 5-0, and Mowbray didn’t agree with referee Woolmer's assessment.

He said: “It was an unbelievably poor decision in the first half, that could have been the thing that changed the game. How much faster is Armstrong than the defender who brings him down?

“It was a really poor decision not to show a red card when Armstrong is running through the middle on goal. Asking the referee, he said there was a covering defender. I’ve watched it back and there’s no covering defender that’s getting near Armstrong.

“We have to live with it, it’s football, we take the good decisions, the bad decisions, the good referees, the bad referees, we just get on with the next game and if we maintain that standard we’ll see where we are in another six games.”

Rovers had 19 attempts at goal, including a penalty, but found Ben Foster in inspired form in the Watford goal.

“Did we deserve something? The history books will say that we lost 3-1,” Mowbray added

“We missed a penalty which would have made the last 20 minutes pretty interesting.

“Foster is a high quality goalkeeper and he had a good night.”