Ben Hamer: Watford goalkeeper says home results must improve to reach play-offs

Ben Hamer has made 15 appearances for Watford this season

Watford goalkeeper Ben Hamer says the Hornets must improve their home form if they are to secure a play-off place.

The 1-0 defeat by Cardiff was their fifth at home this season and left the Hornets 11th in the Championship table, four points outside the top six.

The next visitors to Vicarage Road are runaway leaders Leicester this weekend.

"We've been really good form-wise away from home, but the home form hasn't been where it should be," Hamer told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"We've got a big game on Saturday against the league leaders which is very important. They're firing on all cylinders at the moment so we're going to have to be at it pretty quickly."

Before that, Watford visit Southampton in an FA Cup fourth-round replay on Tuesday, with a trip to Liverpool the prize for the winners.

For Hamer, though, it is of secondary importance to the task of finishing in the top six and having a chance of promotion back to the Premier League.

However, Watford have only taken one point from their past four home games - and have not won in front of their own crowd in the league since beating Norwich 3-2 on 28 November.

"As a club we want to be in contention for the play-offs, there's no two ways about it," the 36-year-old said.

"We all need to up our performances and become a little more solid, especially at home. At home we just haven't been getting the results.

"We can't put our finger on why that is, the pitch we've got here is amazing, there's no excuses not to be playing good football on that. It's a carpet. We can't use that as an excuse.

"We've just not really got the end product, which is vitally important to get the opportunities to score goals and that's something we need to improve on going forward."

Hamer believes the return of Emmanuel Dennis, on loan from Nottingham Forest, will have a positive impact on results.

Dennis played for Watford in the Premier League in 2021-22, but has only been used as a substitute by head coach Valerien Ismael since re-joining the club.

"He's an exciting player," Hamer added. "He's still got to get fit - I don't think he was playing much before he came here. Once he's fit he can start having more input in the games."