Hornets snatch late point at Elland Road

Watford snatched a late point thanks to a Troy Deeney strike with four minutes remaining as the Hornets left Yorkshire with a point in a 3-3 draw.

Hornets boss Gianfranco Zola made two changes to the side that drew 0-0 at Burnley on Tuesday night as Daniel Pudil and Ikechi Anya came in for Marco Cassetti and Sean Murray.

Leeds made one change as Sam Byram came in for the injured Tom Lees.

Leeds started the game the brighter and had the first chance of the game after three minutes when striker Matt Smith met a Ross McCormack cross but his header was saved by Jonathan Bond.

The home side then had another chance in the sixth minute. Again McCormack with the cross, this time Marius Zaliukas met it in the air but his shot went wide.

However the Hornets took the lead after 12 minutes. McGugan saw his shot deflected, but it fell to Deeney who reacted quickest and put the ball past Leeds keeper Paddy Kenny to give the away side a 1-0 lead.

Anya almost doubled Watford`s lead after 24 minutes as he broke away after a great pass by Lewis McGugan, but his shot went a foot wide of Kenny`s goal.

Leeds then came back into the game as McCormack saw a free kick deflect off the wall and go wide and then Smith saw a shot go wide of Bonds goal.

Right on half time Watford doubled their lead. A dangerous Leeds free kick was punched away by Bond to Hector Bellerin who ran the length of the pitch and then found Cristian Battocchio who fired passed Kenny to double the Hornets lead as they went into the break 2-0 up.

HT: 0-2

Leeds made a bright smart to the second half and got a goal on the back through Danny Pugh on the 50th minute. He got past a couple of Watford defenders and fired past Bond from a tight angle.

It didn`t take long for the home side to equalise. This time Smith met a McCormack cross as they completed a 12 minute comeback.

Shortly after Smiths goal, Bond made a fantastic double save from Rudolph Austin to keep the score at 2-2.

From the resulting corner, Alex Mowatt saw his shot deflected onto the bar by Joel Ekstrand as Leeds looked for a winner.

Up the other end, McGugan saw a 25 yard effort tipped wide of the post by Kenny as he tried to get his side back into the game.

Zola made his first change of the game after 66 minutes as Sean Murray replaced McGugan. Shortly after this change, Marco Cassetti replaced Faraoini.

McCormack saw an effort ruled out for offside after 76 minutes. However, Leeds finally made the pressure count shortly after. This time McCormack managed to beat Bond to give the home side a 3-2 lead with not long left.

However, Watford equalised late on after George Thorne saw his long range effort parried by Kenny. Deeney reacted quickest to score his second of the game to make it 3-3.
In the final minute of additional time, Ekstrand had a chance to give the Golden Boys all three points. However Zaliukas got back and made a great challenge to deny the Swedish centre back.

Full Time: 3-3

Leeds: Kenny, Peltier, Zaliukas, Pearce, Byram, Murphy, Mowatt, Pugh, Austin (c), McCormack, Smith.

Subs Not Used: Cairns (GK), Brown, Tonge, Varney, Drury, Poleon, Warnock.

Watford: Bond (GK); Faraoni (Cassetti), Nosworthy, Ekstrand, Pudil; Thorne; Bellerin, Battocchio (Hall), McGugan (Murray), Anya; Deeney (c).

Subs Not Used: Woods (GK), Iriney, Fabbrini, Forestieri.

Referee: Trevor Kettle

Attendance: 23,445