Watford vs Burnley. Premier League.
Vicarage RoadAttendance20,044.
Saturday 7 April 2018 18:17, UK
Sam Vokes' goal 22 seconds after coming on inspired Burnley to a 2-1 turnaround win at Watford.
Vokes was presented with the perfect opening when Adrian Mariappa nodded Ashley Westwood's free-kick towards his own goal, cancelling out Roberto Pereyra's opener when he slotted in a loose ball nine minutes earlier (61).
The Hornets had dominated both the game and the chances at Vicarage Road up to that point, but were stunned when Kevin Long headed another Westwood delivery back across goal, where Jack Cork nodded in (73) despite Orestis Karnezis' impressive palm away, which was adjudged to have been behind the line.
The Clarets' win is their fourth straight top-flight victory, a feat they last achieved in 1968, while Watford have lost when scoring first for the fourth time this season.
Burnley had the ball in the Watford goal inside two minutes, but Chris Wood's header was ruled out for a narrow offside.
But if that was a warning sign for the Hornets, they heeded it well. Burnley did not manage a shot on target before the break, while Pereyra forced two good saves from Nick Pope in a half the home side dominated.
Pereyra and Will Hughes were running the show, and the two combined for the opener 16 minutes after the restart when Hughes danced through the Burnley defence, was tackled by James Tarkowski and the loose ball popped up for the Argentine, who calmly slotted in.
But the introduction of Vokes from the bench would spark Burnley's comeback. Barely 20 seconds after his introduction, Westwood's deep free-kick was nodded goalwards by Mariappa, catching out the Watford defence and leaving the Welshman unmarked to level from close range.
And three minutes later a shellshocked Watford were down and out. Another free-kick was kept in play by Long, and Burnley's players were cautious to celebrate Cork's header before referee Paul Tierney whistled for the goal.
Watford brought on Richarlison, Andre Carrillo and Stefano Okaka as they pushed for an equaliser, but never seriously threatened Pope as Burnley saw out the game with relative ease.
The young Englishman did not deserve to be on the losing side, having dropped between the lines and caused Burnley problems throughout. He got another assist to add to his collection, and for the second week in a row played more key passes than anyone on the field (3).
Again he produced out of possession too, making as many tackles (2) as anyone on his side and second only to Matt Lowton overall. You wonder what he could have achieved this season had he not missed three months to injury.
Watford travel to Huddersfield next Saturday, while Burnley have a crunch clash in the race for seventh with Leicester visiting Turf Moor. Both games kick-off at 3pm.
