Andre Gray marked Watford’s draw at home to Southampton as “one point earned” after his late equaliser pegged the Saints back.

The visitors raced into a stunning early lead as Shane Long broke record for the fastest ever Premier League goal, beating Ben Foster after just 7.69 seconds, but the Hornets dominated possession and the shooting statistics and were finally rewarded when Gray beat Angus Gunn in the last minute.

A win would have seen Javi Gracia’s side go three points clear of Everton in seventh place, and although that wasn’t what they got, Gray felt a point was the least his side deserved.

He told the club’s website: “We didn’t have many clear-cut chances but, on a night where we were not at our best, we got a point.

“They outplayed us in the first half and had a lot of the ball. They were good on the counterattack. It was tough for the boys at the back when we were pushing for a goal.

“It’s one point earned. We were losing and the game was getting on. Considering everything in the game, it was a good point and every one we get is massive for us.”

The goal was Gray’s first in the league since the 2-1 win over Leicester City in March, but there is unlikely to be a more important one that this in Watford’s mission to be the ‘best of the rest’ and potentially seal a place in Europe next season.

The Hornets currently occupy the coveted seventh spot, one point ahead of Everton but with Leicester and Wolves also in close proximity.

Luck is earned, however, and Gray was happy that the side took the risks they did in order to salvage something from the game.

He said: “We knew we had to take risks to get ourselves back into it and that left Kaba [Christian Kabasele] one-on-one sometimes but he was fantastic.

“We were trying to find a way back into it and got one from a ricochet. It bounced around a bit, fell to me and I got something on it and maybe the keeper misjudged it.

“It’s not ideal [to concede so early on] but it’s just about everyone getting on with it then, not everyone looking around moaning because we know there’s still 90 minutes to play. We know we can get the goals and we nearly did a couple of minutes after.

“We didn’t get much after that but as time went on in the second half I think we knew that we’d get one chance, maybe two, and we knew it would come sooner or later as long as we took our chance.”