'No country for old men' at Watford

37 year old Malky Mackay made an unsettled and erratic first start of the season for Watford in Saturday`s 4-1 FA Cup defeat to Wolves…but then again what did we expect of a man who hasn`t played a single first team match for 11 months.

Aidy Boothroyd saw his decision to hand his greying player coach a chance to stretch his aging legs in a central defensive berth (and leave the fresh faced Adrian Mariappa on the bench) seriously blow up in his face as the younger legs of Wolves` Andy Keogh ran riot up front… but then criticised the rearguard performance of his troops.

Come on Aidy! Mackay has only managed 560 minutes of first team action in the past 12 months but was asked to 2 matches in a week after turning out for the reserves in Wednesday nights 3-1 win over Brighton.

Yes. The Hornets are really THAT desperately short of cover at centre half after seeing loan signing Calum Davenport return to West Ham with a broken neck and Danny Shittu putting in some pointless performances in Nigeria`s ill fated African Cup of Nations group matches.

And with Boothroyd insisting he`s for extra cover you have to wonder where it leaves the likes of Matt Jackson (who wasn`t even in the 16) and Cedric Avinel (who has never recovered from being eaten alive by Leroy Lita at the Majeski last season) if a guy just 3-weeks away from his 38th birthday gets the nod.