A week after the Hornets were sent back down to the Championship, Watford's Jay DeMerit has blamed a lack of experience for his team's relegation.

Last Saturday's 1-1 tie with Manchester City shut the Premier League door on the Hertfordshire club after only one season, a fact the players are still coming to terms with.

"It was just our general inexperience of the league that cost us," DeMerit told YA.

"I don't think it really has hit us yet," he added. "And I don't think it will hit us until the schedule comes out and we travel to Coventry away or something like that. We didn't fully realize we were in the Premiership until we saw the schedules."

The ecstasy of DeMerit's winning goal in last season's Championship playoff final at the Millennium Stadium must seem a fading memory now, as the smiles of promotion have become the sighs of relegation.

"It was something we were all prepared for," the Wisconsin-born DeMerit admitted. "I think we had our work cut out for quite some time. For a couple of months at least, we thought we might be in trouble, so you come to terms with it."

"We knew what we were getting into and we felt we genuinely had a chance and that's the most frustrating thing because a lot of people who watched this year felt we deserved a lot more."

There are no recriminations among the close-knit squad at Vicarage Road, and despite guiding his team to last place, coach Aidy Boothroyd's job is in no danger - but a lot of navel gazing has begun as to why Watford's top flight adventure was over almost as soon as it had started.

"Little errors cost us badly," DeMerit confessed. "Plus, you can't stay in the Premiership if you don't score a lot of goals. Then unfortunate injuries happened - but you can't make excuses."

So it is back to the drawing board and another attempt at scaling the Championship mountain, but according to their US international, it has been a valuable experience.

"I think if the league started today it would be a different story and I think we are all better for it," mused the Wisconsin native. "Now we just have to work hard to get back."

Watford travel to relegation-threatened Sheffield United on Saturday.