Adrian Boothroyd is still convinced Watford will gain promotion this season despite their 1-0 defeat at Preston on Saturday.Boothroyd's side have the best away record in the division but have seen an eight-point lead at the summit of the Championship swallowed up in recent months by the chasing pack.
Neil Mellor's 75th-minute strike left the Hornets in third place but Boothroyd believes that they will still win promotion back to the top flight.
He said: "We're chugging along chasing that big jackpot again of promotion and if we can maintain our away form and improve our home form then we will be in good shape.
"I'm bringing nobody in at the moment. I'm trying for a couple but so is everyone. There will not be wholesale changes.
"Alan has come in here and done a great job so far and I'm sure Preston will turn the corner.
"They've brought in a couple of players who did well for them and they are still a decent side.
"They were better than us and won and you will not hear me making any excuses."
Irvine admitted that it was luck rather than judgment which saw Mellor score within two minutes of replacing debutant Chris Brown.
Brown lasted 73 minutes after signing from Norwich for £400,000 and was replaced with cramp alongside fellow debutant Richard Chaplow.
Mellor connected with Lewis Neal's knock-back from a deep Simon Whaley cross to hit the target with his first touch, before lashing home the rebound into the top corner to grab the winner with his second.
Irvine said: "It was a substitution inspired by cramp so I can't take too much credit for that.
"Thankfully Neil was in the right place but he is a predator and someone who has a good goalscoring record.
"Right throughout the team everyone performed really well against very difficult opposition.
"There were two great debuts and I said to them before the game that I didn't expect them to last the game.
"They've not played much football of late but I'd rather have 100% for 70 minutes than 75% for 90 minutes.
"They gave everything they had and were running on empty when they came off."
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