Watford did little to improve their automatic promotion hopes as they produced one of the close football scores of the weekend in the Championship. The Vicarage Road crowd had a difficult afternoon as Watford twice hit the visitors’ post in addition to Ferreira’s outstanding equaliser from 20 yards, cancelling out Shane Ferguson’s first-half goal. The team led by Slaven Bilic is now third in the Sky Bet Championship, 18 points behind champions Burnley and 13 points behind second-placed Sheffield United.
A rare instance of early Watford incision was Mario Gaspar’s early pirouette and volley that hit the outside of the post. In fact, Rotherham dominated the first half’s intensity and forced a free kick in the 17th minute that was eventually delivered to Dan Barlaser 20 yards from the goal. The midfielder changed the direction of his body to fire a half-volley, forcing Daniel Bachmann to make a clumsy-looking stop. When Rotherham took the lead after 20 minutes, the Watford goalkeeper was at fault.
Two minutes later, Ismaila Sarr attempted another volley from a cross by Ferreira, but this one was wilder and slammed into the group of Rotherham supporters behind the goal. As halftime drew near, Watford shouted for a penalty, but referee David Webb allowed play on as Sarr went down under Cameron Humphreys’ charge. Three minutes into the second half, Martins received a cross from Bayo, and he eventually shot, but it smacked off the angle of the post and crossbar.
Ferreira, though, who pounced on a misplaced ball by Leo Hjelde, raced forward, and unerringly fired a low shot into the bottom corner, helping them draw even in the 53rd minute. The situation appeared to be set for the home team to complete the comeback, but after 73 minutes, Rotherham substitute Cohen Bramall sprinted forward and slid the ball in front of Fosu, nearly foiling that plan. The striker’s hesitancy was crucial because it allowed Bachmann to block a soft shot with his body.
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