Watford 2-2 Southampton: Nestory Irankunda free-kick earns point for Hornets
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Southampton at Vicarage Road on Saturday; Nestory Irankunda scores late free-kick to seal a point for Paulo Pezzolano's Hornets.
Sunday 31 August 2025 11:56, UK
Two stunning free-kicks in the space of three second-half minutes sparkled stardust on the latter stages of a 2-2 draw between Watford and Southampton at Vicarage Road.
First, Ryan Manning curled his left-footed low set-piece shot into the bottom corner of Egil Selvik's net to put a rebuilding Southampton side on the verge of a second away win of the season.
Then, Watford's Nestory Irankunda, who had posed a threat all match, used his right foot to take the aerial route past Southampton keeper Gavin Bazunu and into the top corner.
The draw means that both sides have claimed five points from their opening four Championship matches as they seek to bed in under their respective new managers.
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Manning had already been involved in the game's opening goal after 10 minutes.
His corner was met by a mistimed header from Nathan Wood which struck Cameron Archer and bounced kindly for the Southampton striker to gleefully thump it over the line from three yards.
There are parallels with Southampton's previous Championship campaign two seasons ago under Russell Martin.
Like Martin in that campaign, Will Still is a new manager attempting to implant his playing style while his squad is being reshaped by a flurry of transfer activity in the final full week of the window.
Fizz Azaz and Mads Roerslev, new arrivals from Brentford and Middlesbrough respectively, made their first league starts for their new club, while winger Tom Fellows did not come in from West Brom in time to play in the game.
Most of Watford's attacking play in the opening half-hour involved Irankunda.
The summer signing from Bayern Munich was always willing to run with the ball, dragging one shot just wide and seeing another strike a defender as did a pass that ought to have sent striker Luca Kjerrumgaard clear on goal.
It required the intervention of new Watford manager Paulo Pezzolano to bring on both Kwadwo Baah and Rocco Vata shortly before the hour to turn the course of the match.
Within eight minutes of their introduction, the pair combined when Vata floated a pass into the path of Baah who found the bottom corner with a fierce low shot.
That triggered a frantic final 25 minutes in which both sides might have won the points to enter the international break with a firm optimism about the season's direction.
Instead, Irankunda matched Manning's free-kick brilliance to set a scoreline that was fair on both teams.
The managers
Watford's Paulo Pezzolano:
"In the first half we contained a good side very well. The second half was very different but from our point of view it's not possible to play the whole game like that.
"But I am pleased that the players are learning and incorporating our way of playing."
Southampton's Will Still:
"In an ideal world we would start the season and the transfer window would all be done and finished.
"You're never quite sure of what the team's going to look like from one week to the other. You hear things and then suddenly Tyler and Mateus are out the door.
"The team and squad may look quite a bit different in the coming weeks.
"We knew it was going to be a difficult month because of the transfer window and where the squad was at and where the football club was at as a whole.
"We knew it wasn't going to be a quick fix or a quick job to just click your fingers. There's another big chunk of work to be done with all the players who have come in the door."
