Watford vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Vicarage RoadAttendance18,620.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Millwall at Vicarage Road on Saturday | A topsy-turvy game ends in a draw as the Hornets steal a late point on home soil
Saturday 28 October 2023 18:51, UK
A header from substitute Mileta Rajovic two minutes into injury time rescued a point for Watford in a feisty 2-2 draw with Millwall at Vicarage Road.
The burly Danish forward nodded in an Imran Louza cross to cancel out a late Wes Harding header and keep both sides entrenched in mid-table.
Watford keeper Daniel Bachmann had already kept out a Zian Flemming shot with a sprawling stop by the time an error from his Millwall counterpart Bartosz Bialkowski helped the home side into a seventh-minute lead when the Pole failed to hold an Edo Kayembe shot.
One calamity then followed another as Jake Cooper's attempted clearance cannoned back into the net off Yaser Asprilla.
The goalmouth action was relentless with Millwall finding an equaliser following a corner. Casper De Norre sent a cross back into the area which Tom Bradshaw flicked on for Flemming to stoop and nod in at the far post.
The home side thought they had restored their lead just before the half-hour mark when the ball ricocheted to Asprilla five yards out, but his rasping left-foot shot was somehow palmed to safety by Bialkowski from point-blank range.
Brilliant defending from Danny McNamara then blocked a goalbound Ken Sema shot, before Cooper saw a shot from Jeremy Ngakia strike his legs and dribble inches wide of the post just after half-time.
At the other end, Brooke Norton-Cuffy embarked on a waltzing run which ended with a slipped pass to substitute Ryan Longman, who curled narrowly wide.
The flow of the game was not helped by over-fussy officiating by referee Keith Stroud, but Francisco Sierralta lifted an 81st-minute shot wastefully over the bar from close range for the hosts.
Millwall thought they had seized victory through Harding when the central defender's second goal in as many games put the visitors ahead in front of their delirious supporters.
Harding rose to meet George Saville's 85th-minute corner and it seemed his central defensive partner Cooper would make it 3-1 two minutes later when he headed goalwards. Somehow Watford substitute Rhys Healey headed that effort up and against his own crossbar, setting the scene for Rajovic's injury-time heroics.
The draw extended Watford's recent unbeaten run to four games, but could not dispel the impression that even at this early stage of the season, both sides look likely to finish in the middle of the pack.
Watford's Valerien Ismael:
"The morale, the mentality we showed again tonight was something great. It has been a good week for us with two wins, one draw. For sure you want more, but we are showing the mentality of a team that supports each other. At the end of the season, maybe we will talk about this day being a massive point for us. The Championship is a long run and these are all the values you need, either to win games or at least not to lose, to stay in the game. We made it perfectly this afternoon.
"For sure we are at home and you want to win the game, but our fans pushed us until the very end and gave us the belief we needed. They believed that something can happen. The team needed that. The feeling was there from the crowd and it lifted the players. We showed that we are able to score at any time in the game. We've got the squad - we are fit and we believe in ourselves. In this league anyone can beat anyone so you need the mentality, the desire, togetherness and belief from the beginning. Then you just need the structure and some quality to make the difference. We keep improving. I see the positive side from our work and we are coming. The stability is back in our squad."
Millwall interim manager Adam Barrett:
"I'm delighted for Wes. He's a great pro. He has come into the group in recent weeks and is a bit of a leader. It was nice to see someone attacking that ball with real intent. Hopefully. there is more to come from him. He's really stepped up. I'm definitely disappointed after we got ourselves in a wonderful position there to go 3-1 up with Jake's header and somehow the ball stayed out.
"Obviously at the end, there, it's a real sickener to take. I was very disappointed to see their goal go in the back of the net. It was a kick in the teeth. We have a good bond in there. We just need to be a little bit braver. You can see it in spells. There's been a lot of upheaval in the club in the last week or so, but the boys have stuck together. It would have been nice to take the confidence from a win into next week on the training pitch."
