Watford's second half onslaught thwarted as Bristol City draw the sting
- By Yann Tear at Vicarage Road
- 49m
- 2 min read
Championship
Watford (1) 1 Bola 6
Bristol City (1) 1 Twine 29
Watford's impressive second half pressure failed to bring them a fifth home win in a row but the signs looked mostly promising ahead of the final international break of the year.
It has been a stop-start campaign so far but they created enough against Bristol City to have claimed victory. It needed several fine stops from City's keeper - Man United loanee Radek Vitek - to deny the Hornets another home win.
The away form may remain an work in progress - still no wins on the road in seven - but the Hornets do love their Vic and they made the ideal start, taking a sixth-minute lead, but they failed to build on their early dominance and allowed the beleaguered visitors back into it.
A month into his second spell in charge, Javi Gracia knows the owners are no less demanding than when he was last in the dugout six years ago. The fact he is the 15th managerial change in that time tells you that. So points dropped are not part of the improvement he needs to oversee but the overall performance was sound.
The Hornets wasted no time in taking the lead - a long ball launched from deep by Imran Louza was beautifully controlled and put away by Marc Bola, who won't have minded the clattering he took from Vitek in putting the ball away.
Edo Kayembe's shot from outside the area from a half-cleared corner almost saw the lead double, but the City keeper got down well to save.
With 75 per cent possession, it seemed just a question of when the second goal would come but after Jeremy Petris brought down Sinclair Armstrong on the edge of the box, City's free-kick specialist Scott Twine bent in a beauty inside Egil Selvik's right hand post.
With the contest taking on a more even hue, it was City who came closest next after the break, with Anis Mehmeti's low left-foot strike drawing a watchful save from Selvik, who also did well to rush out to block Armstrong in a one v one - taking a painful blow in the midriff for his troubles.
A flurry of subs revived Watford, however, and upped the energy levels. One of those off the bench, Othame Maamma, forced City's keeper into a low save, as did Luca Kjerrumgaard from a header as the hosts built up some pressure.
Kwadwo Baah was also another of the bomb squad to come on and do his bit, again almost beating the City keeper, but this was one that was going to end in frustration and regrets for the hosts.
Hornets: (4-4-2) Selvik - Alleyne (Ince 84), Keben, Pollock, Bola - Louza, Kayembe, Petris (Ngakia 61), Irankuda (Baah 64) - Doumbia (Maamma 61) Kjerrumgaard (Semedo 84)
Robins: (3-4-2-1) Vitek - Tanner, Dickie, Roberts (Thomas 87) - McCrorie (Hirakawa 57), Randell, Vyner, Armstrong (Pecover 76) - Twine, Mehmeti - Mayulu (Riis 57)
Attendance: 19,574
