New Watford boss Billy McKinlay admitted he was unable to completely enjoy his first game in management despite securing a 2-1 victory against Brentford.

McKinlay was only appointed as the Hornets’ head coach – their third in a month - on Monday following Oscar Garcia’s resignation.

Watford impressed during the first half last night and deserved their lead heading into the break.

However, Brentford enjoyed more of the ball second half and equalised.

Matej Vydra’s stunning strike ultimately secured McKinlay his first three points in management but it wasn’t a comfortable ride as Brentford had chances to snatch a second goal and Daniel Pudil was sent off, moments before Heurelho Gomes was forced to make a superb save.

McKinlay said: “I was very pleased [with the result]. I am delighted to be in charge but I’d be exaggerating if I said I enjoyed it that much – I am enjoying it now.

“I am really pleased with the result and certain aspects of the performance were terrific. There are bits and pieces we have to work on but overall I am happy.”

McKinlay has ten years of coaching experience, having initially joined Fulham as a player-coach under Chris Coleman in 2003 before working closely with Ray Lewington, Roy Hodgson, Mark Hughes and Martin Jol over a nine-year period.

He left Craven Cottage in December after Jol’s sacking but continued in his part-time role as Northern Ireland’s assistant manager until today.

The Scot helped take the Watford team for Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Blackburn but that was as an assistant alongside Ruben Martinez and Javier Pereira, who have remained on his coaching staff.

Now it is McKinlay who is in the hot seat and he is looking to bring more control and shape to the Hornets after their frantic finish to the two games since he has joined the club.

McKinlay said: “It (McKinlay’s first game in management) was really good and I thought there was a good atmosphere.

“Obviously now it is me sitting on that touchline panicking at times and the way to stop that is to get a shape for the team and the control. That is the nature of the beast and games ebb and flow. The whole point of having the organisation is to control as much as you can.”

On the final few minutes, he added: “It was too open for me so we need more control. What it did show was that resilience that is required, among other things, to do well. It is an important part.”

McKinlay’s first match in charge of a Championship club was typical for the division.

There were plenty of openings, for a while it was end-to-end and if either side had been more clinical they could have won the match by a clearer margin.

McKinlay said: “We have to give Brentford credit. They pegged us back when they came out fired up for the second half.

“I felt our most dangerous period was when they scored and the 20 minutes after that. We had two or three attacks on the counter to finish them off.”

There will be more from McKinlay uploaded later today.

You can read a match report from tonight's game here. Brentford boss Mark Warburton's comments can be found here.