Adie Boothroyd has urged Watford to "stay and fight" after the 1-0 loss at home to relegated Scunthorpe left their promotion hopes in tatters.Paul Hayes' second-half header extended the Hornets' dire run of form to one win in 13 and after being eight points clear at the top of the table in November they now need a result at Blackpool next Sunday to ensure a place in the play-offs.

Boothroyd kept his side in the dressing room for an hour after the defeat and admitted that his side were "afraid of the finishing line".

He said: "We can debate all we like about what we do and how we do it but the bottom line is that we have a team that fear the finishing line.

"We'll have to wait and see how we deal with it. Like every inquest there is a verdict and we will see what that is at Blackpool.

"As a manager when you see players perform valiantly and in a manner which suggests that they will romp the league earlier in the season and now they are afraid then you have to change it.

"Wherever there is fear you can turn and run or stay and fight. We have to fight because if we don't then we won't get promoted. It's as simple as that."

With the club admitting to a "tentative approach" by parties interested in a takeover on Friday Boothroyd's future has come under scrutiny.

But he insisted that he felt he still had the backing of the players.

He said: "There are no excuses. The situation is clear. We have been outstanding for long periods of the season, we have been decidedly average at times and at the minute we are poor.

"But we have done it before so we can do it again.

"I feel the squad are behind me. If I thought anything else I'd be off for an early holiday."

Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins insisted his side's ultimately fruitless fight against relegation this season represents "a great achievement" for the club.

Adkins has already got his sights on a successful campaign in League One next year and believes that his side will prosper after their taste of the Championship.

He said: "After the defeat to Crystal Palace which sent us down we sat down and set ourselves some new goals.

"We had a well deserved victory over Cardiff last week and another one today and that is two wins in our pre-season for League One.

"At the start of the season nobody thought we'd take a point off anyone in this league but we've got 45 points now and that would have kept us up last season.

"It's a great achievement for Scunthorpe United.

"Once we got relegated it would have been easy to throw the towel in and become disillusioned but we've competed very well and can hold our heads up high."

The Iron won the League One title by six points last season and Adkins is confident of a repeat.

"The objective is to come straight back up now," he said.

"We have been on a journey of discovery this year and hopefully we can utilise the experience to go about trying to get back in the Championship.

"All the players are under contract bar one for next year and we are trying to mould a team of young, hungry players.

"We'll keep persevering with them and they will flourish."

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