Bournemouth 1-1 Watford

Murray heads in his first goal for Bournemouth

Glenn Murray scored and had a late penalty saved as Bournemouth were held to a home draw by Watford.

Summer signing Murray, replacing the injured Callum Wilson, nodded in a Matt Ritchie cross to put the hosts ahead.

Watford were gifted an equaliser when Cherries goalkeeper Artur Boruc passed to Odion Ighalo, who side-footed home.

Bournemouth were awarded a penalty for Etienne Capoue's foul on Adam Smith, but Murray's effort was pushed away by Hornets keeper Heurelho Gomes.

Although Boruc's error and Murray's miss will frustrate Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe, his side did survive a Ben Watson half-volley hitting the crossbar.

Bournemouth beat Watford to the Championship title by a point last season, but this was the third draw in their past four meetings.

Relive Bournemouth's draw against Watford

Reaction to Saturday's games

Mixed fortunes for Murray

Bournemouth's average positions show they were keen to attack down the wings through Matt Ritchie (30) and Marc Pugh (7) and use Glenn Murray's aerial threat

Murray shouldered the burden of scoring for his side with Wilson ruled out for six months after suffering a knee injury last week.

The £4m signing from Crystal Palace missed a close-range header at the far post from a Ritchie cross before atoning with his opener.

After Ighalo had equalised, Murray - a constant aerial threat throughout - headed just wide from among a crowd of players.

The 32-year-old had no hesitation in taking the 85th-minute penalty, only to see it saved.

Howe said: "No blame attached to Glenn. He was excellent and he was the heartbeat of most of what was good about our team.

"He's a totally different player to Callum Wilson. He brings different strengths and we're going to have to mould ourselves around Glenn as we did with Callum.

"We tweaked things slightly but we were still very effective."

A tale of two keepers

Bournemouth looked like they were heading into half-time with a deserved lead before Boruc's blunder.

After controlling a Sylvain Distin backpass, Boruc gave the ball away to Ighalo, who shimmied past the Cherries keeper to score his fifth goal of the season.

Hornets keeper Gomes, by contrast, played a key role in earning his side a point.

The Brazilian acrobatically tipped over a superb 18-yard overhead kick from Cherries defender Steve Cook and dived to his left to save Murray's late spot-kick.

Man of the match: Heurelho Gomes

Of the 32 goalkeepers to have faced 20 or more penalties in the Premier League, Heurelho Gomes has the second best save percentage (29%) after David Seaman (32%)

Manager reaction

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe: "There's no blame attached to Artur - we encourage our players and our goalkeeper to take responsibility and play from the back.

"It was just unfortunate with the timing of the goal. If Steve Cook's overhead kick had gone in, we'd have been talking about it for years to come, but Gomes has got a hand to it, and then he makes a top-class save for the penalty."

Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores: "We have given away two penalties in the last two matches. We have to find a balance between defence and attack.

"We had scored only six goals so everyone knows how important Gomes it to us - he is a leader. I thought the overhead kick was a goal, then he saved the penalty."

The stats you need to know

• Glenn Murray has scored eight Premier League goals in 21 appearances in 2015, compared to one goal in 16 top-flight outings before this year

• Murray's goal was the first Watford have conceded in the first half of a league game this season

• Ighalo has now netted 21 goals in 26 league games in 2015, more than any other player in the top four divisions

• Bournemouth have been awarded five penalties in their past four league games against Watford, but have scored only two

• Bournemouth have been awarded 18 penalties in the league since the start of last season, four more than any other club in the top four tiers

What next?

Bournemouth face a trip to Manchester City on 17 October after the international break, while Watford host Arsenal the same day.