The manager reacts to the goalless draw at Watford in which City missed a golden chance to take the three points, with Patson Daka denied by Egil Selvik from 12 yards
18:32, 21 Mar 2026Updated 20:11, 21 Mar 2026
Gary Rowett gives instructions to his players during a break in play of the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Leicester City at Vicarage Road(Image: Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
There’s no “finger-pointing” over Patson Daka’s saved penalty in the goalless draw at Watford but Leicester City manager Gary Rowett admitted it’s a “hugely frustrating” moment.
Daka saw his spot-kick turned onto the post by Egil Selvik and it proved costly, with City unable to take any of their second-half chances and forced to leave Vicarage Road with only a point.
It’s the third penalty in a row that City have missed, but the first Daka has taken this term. An out-of-form striker may not have been the most obvious candidate to step up, but Rowett suggested he decided the order of takers based on their previous records. This was Daka’s fourth penalty for City, and his first miss.
The manager also suggested the incident for the penalty, with Abdul Fatawu tripped by Formose Mendy, should have resulted in a second yellow card for the Watford defender.
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“There’s two moments with the penalty really,” Rowett said. “One is that Abdul cuts inside and gets brought down when he’s about to be shooting. In my opinion, it should have been a second yellow card.
“When you see some of the challenges 60 yards from goal when there’s a little cynicism and it’s a yellow card, you have to be fair in the box as well.
“But he only gives a penalty. We’ve got to go and convert that. It’s a good save, but when you have a chance like that, you have to score them.
“He (Daka) is going to be disappointed. I said it to the lads in there: ‘Any one of you can miss a penalty.’ It is what it is. We’re frustrated, we’re disappointed, but there’s no finger-pointing, there’s no blame.
“Of course, you have to score when you’re in that moment. The important thing is we get around him and support him and make sure he’s ready to go in the next game.
“But it’s a hugely frustrating moment away from home at this stage of a season, we have to take them.”
Explaining how the list of takers is decided, Rowett said: “It’s one of those where you look at a player’s record and you make a decision based on it.
“We have a list of one, two and three. Patson’s taken quite a few penalties in his time and scored. It’s just one moment. It’s an important moment. We’ll support him.”
There were chances to make amends for Daka’s penalty miss, including one for the Zambian himself, who nodded a free header wide at the back post. Divine Mukasa and Ben Nelson were also denied by Selvik.
That City created those chances, and conceded very little at the other end, made for an irritating afternoon for Rowett.
“Really frustrating,” the manager said. “You look at Watford in good form and going for the play-offs, we knew it was going to be a difficult game, but I thought we dealt with some of their play quite well.
“They had a real aerial threat and they’re a good transition threat, but I thought we managed the game well and got into some good positions.
“If you create as many moments and as many good chances as that, the reality is that you have to win the game.
“We had two or three other chances. Pato should get his diving header on target. Divine had a good chance, Ben at the end.
“I was pleased with the performance. It’s hard at this stage of a season to be pleased with a performance when you haven’t won, but I don’t think there’s an awful lot we can do other than create the chances and hope we show the quality to win it.
“That’s the disappointment. We did enough to win the game. But we didn’t and we’re sat here frustrated.
“If you create as many moments and as many good chances as that, the reality is that you have to win the game.”
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