Cardiff 1-1 Watford: Vakoun Bayo rescues last-gasp point for Tom Cleverley's side in Wales

Watford snatched a point at the death at Cardiff as Vakoun Bayo headed home his 10th goal of the season in a 1-1 draw.

It looked as though Cian Ashford's 65th-minute goal was going to be enough to earn City their first home win since November 2, but Bayo struck in the 87th minute to stop his side falling to a double defeat to their hosts in a little over two weeks.

Chances were few and far between in a lacklustre first half in which midfield congestion stopped any real flowing football. Watford arrived with Jonathan Ford in goal having lost Daniel Bachmann to an ankle injury that required surgery.

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A long run in the fifth minute from Alex Robertson ended with a shot from outside the area that Ford comfortably dealt with low down to his right, then he palmed away a vicious shot from the left side of the Watford box from Chris Willock.

Tom Cleverley's side arrived seeking their first win on the road since their 6-2 win at Sheffield Wednesday, also on November 2.

Watford had been beaten 2-1 at Vicarage Road at the end of last month by the Bluebirds and that defeat started a run of four successive defeats including the FA Cup loss at Fulham last weekend.

The second half saw Cardiff press forward with more urgency and purpose and they almost scored from a sequence of two corners, Watford needing the combined efforts of Kwadwo Baah and Francisco Sierralta to keep out the second.

A volley by Perry Ng was then deflected wide before the Cardiff pressure finally earned them the lead.

It was terrible defending from Watford 30 yards out as they twice failed to clear. Calum Chambers was involved in the build-up before the ball went from Robertson to Ashford, who finished in style as he thumped the ball into the top left corner.

Watford appeared set for yet another defeat but a howler in defence by O'Dowda paved the way for Baah to steal the ball on the right side of the box and provide the cross for Bayo to head home and push his side up to eighth in the table.

The managers

Cardiff's Omer Riza:

"I'm frustrated for the players because they worked very hard again and probably deserved the three points.

"We should be eight points better off in our last four games and we could have been as high as 13th. But if you don't take the chances you create, you give the opposition the chance to hit back.

"You need to kill their energy and momentum and we aren't quite doing that at the moment. It was a good performance and we have to take that into the game on Saturday.

"That is a very important fixture and we will go into it full of confidence. We have the right endeavour and togetherness but we need a bit more composure.

"We're out of the bottom three for now and we want to keep on looking upwards. We want to bring in more players and we could have one in before the weekend who might get some minutes against Swansea."

Watford's Tom Cleverley:

"I'm really pleased with Bayo and as well as scoring the goal he also got through a lot of work. He was clearly one of our better performers.

"He scored four goals a couple of seasons ago, five or six last year and now he's into double figures for this season.

"It always pleases me when the goalscorers in the side find themselves in the right place at the right time to score.

"We are now eighth in the league, which is seven places higher than we finished last season, but we have bigger ambitions than that.

"The last few games have shown that we need to improve if we want to mix it with the likes of Middlesbrough, West Brom and Blackburn for the play-off places."

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