Jamal Lewis: Watford defender hopes beating Rotherham can kick-start play-off charge
- Published
Jamal Lewis is at Watford on a season-long loan from Premier League side Newcastle United
Watford defender Jamal Lewis says they targeted Saturday's game against struggling Rotherham as a potential "turning point" in their bid to still make the Championship play-offs.
The Hornets' 1-0 win over the bottom-of-the table Millers ended a run of three league defeats in a row.
Victory moved them up to 11th place, seven points off the top six with 13 matches to go.
"It was always going to need a gritty performance," Lewis, 26, said.
"To come away with a win away from home and a good display is always sweet."
The win, sealed by an excellent strike from Yaser Asprilla just before the hour, was Watford's first in six league games since they won at QPR in mid-January.
"We've been talking about being clinical in front of goal, defenders helping attackers and vice versa," Lewis told BBC Three Counties Radio.
"It was a great strike from him - Yaser's got a lot of ability we need to get him to do the simple things because he can do the magical things for us."
After losing to Cardiff, Championship leaders Leicester, Norwich and Southampton in the FA Cup, Watford's win at the New York Stadium was helped by their first clean sheet in five games - something Lewis said was "long overdue".
"It's been disappointing for us recently and we've been well aware of that - the results haven't been good enough," the Northern Ireland international said.
"We wanted to use this game [Rotherham] as a turning point and just push and keep the pressure on the teams above us.
"Hopefully it's three points in the right direction and we can build momentum from here until the end of the season."
Watford's next three games are all against sides in the bottom seven - Huddersfield, Millwall and Swansea - which Lewis says gives them the chance to really move into the thick of the promotion race.
"In the Championship, you always have a block of games - whether it's the Christmas period or start and end of the season where you can pick up some wins and the table looks different," he added.
"Now we can look to build and move up the table."