Mike Phelan saw plenty of losing teams before he became a manager in his own right but they tended to be the opposition.

Now the man who played and coached under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United is learning to understand how all those victims felt after his Hull side lost for the sixth successive Premier League fixture.

At Watford on Saturday, they lost to a side that didn't actually manage a shot on target all game. Suffice to say that never happened during all those years at Old Trafford.

Skipper Michael Dawson was the unlucky man who diverted a cross from Watford substitute Daryl Janmaat into his own net with eight minutes.

It was the sort of misfortune that only occurs to teams down on their luck as Hull became the first Premier League team in 10 years to succumb to such an unlikely statistic. It happened to West Browmwich Albion against Sunderland in January 2006 when Bryan Robson, another man with United at the heart of his career, was in charge of Albion, who went on to be relegated.

But the man who inherited the Hull job when Steve Bruce walked out at the start of the season over a dearth of new signings is hoping that experience can still save a sinking season that began so brightly with victories over Leicester and Swansea when he was still caretaker manager.

“You get used to winning after being involved in it for 19 years, of course you do,” he said. “But you understand that while I have been at other end and winning, there are others who have lost along the way. I have to accept that is part of the game.

“I have stepped up to this role now in difficult circumstances. I have to stress that. Those circumstances are always around but we have to deal with it – we are in the big league where things have to develop fast.

Dawson looked dejected after his late own goal (Getty)

“But we are newly promoted. We are on a losing spell but we have to stick together and keep working at it.”

Watford, who hit the woodwork twice early on, moved above Manchester United thanks to Dawson’s deflection.

Hornets owner Gino Pozzo is under scrutiny following allegations that he used a forged bank document to take sole control of the club in 2014. That opens up the possibility of a points deduction punishment but man-of-the-match Nordin Amrabat wasn’t too worried.

“We heard about that but everybody in the team supports Mr Pozzo in what he does and what he did the last four or five years for Watford,” he said.

“He has done fantastic work for Watford and when you see him he is a gentleman, he looks like a lawyer or something and I know for sure it is nothing.