Watford were forced to settle for a draw against ten-man Brentford at Vicarage Road, as the Bees came from behind in a frenetic second half.

Troy Deeney’s penalty gave the Hornets the lead after Ethan Pinnock had been sent off for the visitors on the hour mark, however Ivan Toney cut their celebrations short just moments later when he converted a spot kick of his own.

Vladimir Ivic restored Christian Kabasele and Ismaila Sarr to his starting XI in place of Ben Wilmot and Domingos Quina after they missed the win at Birmingham City with small injuries, while Adam Masina returned to the bench after recovering from a long-term problem that had ruled him out since the beginning of the season. Two goalkeepers were named on the bench for the second match in a row as injuries and Covid-19 continued to cause selection issues for the Watford head coach.

Covid was not only creating problems for Ivic, but for the club in general, who learnt the day before the match that they would no longer be permitted to host supporters for upcoming games with the town being placed under tier three restrictions. 2,000 of them were present for only the third time this season.

They watched on as Brentford had the better of the opening exchanges and looked threatening in attack with Sergi Canos and Bryan Mbuemo switching play from side to side to try and create space for Ivan Toney.

However, Watford defended well and ended up fashioning the first opportunity of the game with 15 minutes on the clock. A counter-attack down the left flank resulted in Ken Sema feeding the ball to the feet of Sarr in the six-yard box, but his shot on the turn was well saved by David Raya.

The Bees spared little time in getting back on the front foot and ought to have done more with their first real chances as Toney headed wide from Mbuemo’s cross before Mbuemo himself fired over the bar after linking up well with Mathias Jensen.

Having gone close to taking the lead, Brentford nearly had the ball in the net at the other end soon after when Pinnock’s header required intervention from Raya, who flung himself to his left to keep the accident out.

When they weren’t almost scoring in their own net, the visitors continued to look dangerous in front of Watford’s and came closest to finding the net in the first half through Toney, who could have had a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes.

First he fired over on the half-volley after Canos had guided the ball back to him on the edge of the penalty area before Jensen found him in a similar position, only for his arcing effort to crash back off Ben Foster’s upright.

However, the best chance of the half came with three minutes left with Toney played through the middle, only for the striker to opt to play the ball to Josh Dasilva on his right. Instead of shooting with little in between him and the net, the midfielder decided to play the ball back to Toney, who could only divert his effort wide of the target.

Nathaniel Chalobah tried his luck before stoppage time with an ambitious volley from a cleared cross, but the ball ended up skidding away from the target and the sides went in level at the break.

Straight after the restart Watford provided suggestions that they had emerged with greater purpose and urgency. Sarr was twice played in down the right in the first two minutes of the second half, with his cross on the first occasion cleared by Pinnock only as far as Cleverley, whose left-footed effort was hooked wide of the post.

Next it was Sema’s turn to cause problems this time with a darting run from the left, from which he craftily jinked away from Henrik Dalsgaard and Vitaly Janet with one swift movement. However, his cut back was fumbled by James Garner, who should have done better under little pressure.

With Bentford being pressed by the Hornets, it looked as if they might live to regret missing quite so many chances in the first half. However, Watford looked as if they could be heading for a similar position when Deeney curled an effort into Raya’s gloves from the edge of the box, while further chances to attack broke down through loose passes and needless mistakes.

However, that looked to have changed when Pinnock hauled Sarr down in the penalty area and was duly given his marching orders for being the last man. Deeney stepped up and leathered the spot kick low and hard into the net.

Watford Observer:

With a goal and a numerical advantage, the handful of fans inside the ground were starting to feel optimistic, but that positivity was quickly cut short when Kabasele used his arms to block a Jensen cross and referee James Linington once again pointed to the spot. Toney sent Foster the wrong way to level the tie.

The Bees nearly went ahead shortly after with Dasilva attacking down the left flank, only for Mbuemo to put the ball over the bar from a decent enough position.

Kiko Femenia did the same at the other end around the 70-minute mark before Sarr inadvertently deflected a Cleverley shot wide with his back to goal following a neat overlap from Jeremy Ngakia.

With just nine minutes remaining the Hornets thought they had won the match when substitute Stipe Perica stopped at the near post to glance a Sarr cross into the net, but the referee's assistant raised his flag and it was ruled out for offside.

Cleverley fired wide from a Sema free-kick in the closing stages before Kabasele headed behind from a corner in stoppage time, but they were unable to find the all important winning goal. 

Nevertheless, the point carries them one place up the Championship table into third.