English FA Premiership/Watford 3 Fulham 3: Watford were preparing to celebrate a long-awaited first Premiership win of the season, but the party was gatecrashed by an old friend last night.
After Watford went 2-0 up, Heidar Helguson, who spent five years at Vicarage Road, inspired an extraordinary fightback which saw Fulham go 3-2 ahead only for Watford to dramatically still snatch a point through Ashley Young's second goal.
All appeared to be going to Watford's plan as they carved out a two-goal lead after goals from Marlon King and Young. But after pulling one back through Brian McBride, Fulham staged an unlikely fight-back as Helguson headed an equaliser and then Damien Francis panicked after a goal-mouth scramble and shot into his own net.
Watford started positively as they shifted the ball quickly to the flanks in an effort to exploit the space provided by Fulham's somewhat narrow formation.
With Gavin Mahon driving the midfield, Watford's first-half pressure continued as Marlon King then fired an effort narrowly wide of Niemi's right-hand post.
Watford merited the lead they took on 23 minutes thanks to a combination of King's awareness and Young's vision. Young had collected the ball in a central position and delicately lofted it over Fulham's defence into the path of King. The striker had timed his run perfectly and shot past Niemi for his second goal of the season.
Fulham were gradually shaken from their lethargic start and Pape Bouba Diop, who was being utilised on the left of a midfield diamond, came close to unlocking the Watford defence with a through-ball for Moritz Volz which the German could only direct wide from a difficult position.
Watford had a good chance to consolidate their lead shortly before half-time with what was almost a replica of the first goal. Mahon had picked out King's run behind Fulham's defence but, on this occasion, the swing of King's boot connected only with thin air.
That miss hardly mattered as Watford exploded out of the blocks for the second half. It might just have been chance, but Fulham were left waiting for a few minutes for Watford to re-emerge after the interval and appeared to have totally switched off by the time the referee Mike Riley whistled for the restart. Within just 13 seconds, Watford were leading 2-0.
The ball was again quickly played wide, this time to the excellent Bouazza, who crossed for Young to fire past Niemi from the edge of the six-yard box. Then Helguson headed into the path of substitute McBride to make it 2-1.
WATFORD: Foster, DeMerit, Shittu, Mackay, Stewart, Young, Mahon, Francis (Henderson 89), Bouazza, King, Smith (Spring 76). Subs Not Used: Lee, Doyley, Jarrett. Booked: Mahon. Goals: King 23, Young 46, 89.
FULHAM: Niemi, Rosenior, Knight, Pearce, Queudrue, Volz (Radzinski 62), Diop, Brown, Bocanegra (Routledge 53), Helguson, John (McBride 59). Subs Not Used: Lastuvka, Claus Jensen.Booked: Helguson, Pearce, Radzinski. Goals: McBride 71, Helguson 83, Francis 87 og.
Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
