Wilting Watford still have enough spirit to go up, vows Smith

Both of the winger's appearances at this stage with Sunderland and Derby ended in defeat. Furthermore, Watford go into Sunday's first leg at Vicarage Road with just one Championship win in their last 14 games.

As for their appalling home record, a glance at internet chat rooms will reveal the strength of the anger felt by supporters who believed Watford's six-point lead at the top of the table back in October would signal a swift return to the Premier League.

"We do seem to have made life hard for ourselves," said Smith, who scored the late equaliser for 10-man Watford at Blackpool that secured the last play-off place by goal difference of just one over Wolves.

"The fans have had to go through a lot. Now we've got to give them something to cheer about.

"We are a side that never seem to give up. We've got great spirit, I think a lot of teams would have gone down with 10 men at Blackpool.

"You could sense our supporters' frustration up there during that match and rightly so after the way things have gone for us recently.

"But we never say die and we proved we're good enough to get into the play-offs where anything can happen." Such optimism would appear misplaced given Watford's run of results which included a 3-0 defeat at Hull's KC Stadium.

"We didn't prove ourselves up there. So it will be cathartic to put things right," added Smith.

First, of course, comes the home leg and manager Aidy Boothroyd has sought to settle nerves before the big day by transferring his preparations from Watford's London Colney training ground to Vicarage Road.

Smith, the club's player of the year, said: "We don't often train at the ground so it has been good to run through a few things there.

"Hopefully, it will help change our fortunes, plus it will give us the opportunity to get used to the ground underfoot as it has started to dry out a bit this week."

Boothroyd successfully steered Watford through the play-offs in his first full campaign with the team in 2006. Despite their slump, he believes his side can repeat the feat this time. He said: "It's all about making sure we're ready. Our fans have got to get behind us, they've got to forget what went on at the end of the season.

"Should we achieve what we set out to do at the start then everybody will forget about our home form because we'll be in the Premier League.

"To finish where we have in the table does show character after all we've been through. But we've got to improve now."