Beppe Sannino insists it was a pleasure to shake the hand of Malky Mackay when the pair met at Watford's match against Barnsley on Saturday and hopes they will both be managing in the Premier League soon.

Mackay, who was in charge at Vicarage Road from 2009 to 2011 and played 56 times for the Hornets, watched the 3-0 victory over Barnsley in the stands with his son, with former colleague David Kerslake also there on a scouting mission.

The two bosses met back in the summer when Sannino was in charge at his former club Chievo Verona and Mackay was at Cardiff City. 

Sannino said after the Barnsley win: "Last pre-season my team (Chievo) played against Cardiff and Malky and myself had good memories of that day.

"It was a pleasure to shake his hand again today.

"Both of us were sacked from our clubs (Chievo and Cardiff) and I wished him all the best and said that I hoped to see him managing in the Premier League as soon as possible."

Watford's convincing victory was aided by the return of Lewis McGugan, who was playing his first competitive fixture in almost two months after being sidelined with a thigh problem.

Sannino, who is now starting to give some answers in English, praised the midfielder after the match.

He said in English: "Lewis is a good player, he is a player with quality." 

He then added in Italian: "He has come back from an injury so it was important he had 60 minutes on the pitch today. 

"He had a problem with his foot and I hope he will be ok to play against Wigan in the next match."

With Chu-Young Park and Fernando Forestieri both failing late fitness tests and Mathias Ranegie suspended, Watford named a very defensive bench for the Championship fixture.

Essaid Belkalem, Joel Ekstrand, Tommie Hoban and Lucas Neill were all among the Hornets replacements but Sannino said he is not concerned by the current shortage of attacking options.

"I have never been worried about this situation in the past and as long as I have 11 players to play then I will be happy," he said.

"I will never complain about players missing through injuries or suspension.

"The best players are those who are available and my job is to give them good spirit and I love them to feel very important."

To listen to Sannino attempting to speak English in his reaction to Watford's 3-0 win over Barnsley, click here.