Jackie Bass speaks to Darius Henderson in this week's feature

TO opposing fans everywhere, Darius Henderson is the epitome of Watford's style of play. He's the type of player his own fans love, but others despise.

Why? Because what Watford are as an army, Darius is as a lone soldier. Big, strong, direct - a handful to deal with and impossible to silence. In short, he is not the sort of player you would like to come up against. Especially in today's game, because it seems his is a style of play from a bygone era that defenders rarely find themselves up against these days.

Mark Hughes, Alan Smith, Ian Rush. They all knew how to play the beautiful game at its most ugly and yet still do it so poetically. The other common denominator? They were all successful. Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool. It worked then and it seems that 20 years later it's still working now. So what's the problem?

When I ask him about the label that has been attached to Watford of late, Darius sums it up within his first sentence: "We've got to look at it as a positive because we've been at and around the top all season and were eight points clear at one stage. So you could argue that we play the right way and everyone else is playing the wrong way."

Put that in your pipe and smoke it one might say.

There's nothing like cutting to the chase, and he needs to, because the clock is ticking. It's his son Hogan's second birthday and he needs to rush off to his party soon. That is probably the Darius Henderson that few people see and yet it's what he prides himself on most. On the pitch he has been labelled as an ugly thug, but in 'real' life, he is a complete paradox.

Softly spoken, polite, media shy - in a word, he is modest. At one stage he talks about an accolade he once won many moons ago. Minutes later, he asks me not to mention it in this piece. I thought strikers were meant to be selfish, greedy and arrogant? At least thankfully for our sakes he is all of these things on the pitch. But away from football, he is the quintessential family man.

"I love spending time with my kids, we're having a little party this afternoon for close friends and family. I've been told by my eldest that he's dressing up as a policeman, Hogan is going to be a fireman and I've got to be a lollipop man. I don't have the outfit, nor am I going to get one, I'm going to have to let him down I'm afraid."

Once the bizarre image of Henderson wearing a reflective coat and brandishing a 'STOP' sign have dispersed, we get back to football. I read out several words that have been used to describe Watford's style of play in the reports following the Charlton game: ugly, direct, effective, dogged, determined, successful. I ask what he thinks of them.

"To me, only one of those is a negative - ugly. But what's so ugly about winning? When you're at the top of the league you can understand why people would like to see you playing beautiful, passing football - because that's just what they expect. Maybe they've seen too much Premiership football and have been spoilt. But I'd rather be promoted playing what they call 'ugly' football, than finish in the middle of the table playing 'pretty pretty' football."

Our top of the table threats, West Brom, have rightly been hailed and heralded for their attacking football and yes, while a goal difference of +25 is something to be envious of, they currently sit five points adrift of ugly old Watford. And remember that blip that we had over the Christmas period when we only picked up seven points from a possible 12? West Brom only picked up six. Lies, damn lies and statistics as Mark Twain quite rightly said. Statistics don't lie, they just tell the truth in whatever manner you wish them to.

So at the moment, things are going well. We're third, but so were Stoke two games ago - that's how quickly it's changing at the top. The aim is of course promotion, to a place where Henderson took a while to settle last time round - so why is he so desperate to experience that all over again?

"Mentally I feel I'm in a different place, I class myself as being able to cope more now, even if I have to wait even longer for my first goal next time. What would I do differently this time? Take it with a pinch of salt. I took it to heart too much last year and I let it affect me. There were things said in the press and there were people saying I wasn't good enough, after hearing and seeing it so much it's hard not to start agreeing with them.

"A striker's game is all about confidence. I think you need the belief that you can score goals and when I scored my first in the Premiership last year, that belief returned to me.

"When you look for confidence it's normally based on a past belief or evidence of what you've done before. I never had any evidence before, I'd never played in the Premiership, therefore there was nothing in me saying 'come on, you can do this' because I hadn't done it before.

"But now I do and I've been there and done it, so the confidence will be there from the off next time I get the chance. I know I can score, so it was only three goals that I scored, but I know it can be done now."

The season so far couldn't have worked out better for Henderson, a contract extension off the pitch and a host of goals on it, so how has he seen his campaign to date?

"I've only missed a few games through injury and I got into double figures pretty early. There was the Player of the Month award in September and recognition like that is always good.

"Watford are certainly the most forward thinking club that I've been at and the buzz now compared to our promotion year is on par if not better. I would say the squad we have now is better because we've been at the top all season and we never reached top spot once in the promotion season.

"I've had a few different strike partners up front, Marlon, Nathan and Tamas, but I think I'll always be the target man. The opposition will always look at me in terms of how we set out our set pieces. I guess that's a compliment. A lot of teams in this league have that target man; we're a dying breed in the Premiership though."

Henderson's only gripe with the Premiership must undoubtedly be the press attention that comes along with it. At the beginning of the season, there was much cajoling and coaxing prior to his press commitments, much to the bemusement of the Watford Press Office, because once in full flow, Henderson actually comes across as measured and thoughtful, if a little succinct. Which begs the question - why does he not enjoy it?

"I just don't like the attention. If I never had to do another interview again that would suit me. I would rather stay out of the limelight. I just don't like doing it; I can't put my finger on anything in particular, I'm just not a fan."

So with that in mind, I allow him to leave the hot seat in what must have been a torturous half an hour for him. It must have been painful. But not half as painful as the afternoon he's in for when Hogan realises he's come home without his lollipop man outfit.

To see previous player features, click here.

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