Queens Park Rangers 1-1 Watford: Ilias Chair rescues point for Hoops
- Published
Ben Wilmot's goal was his first since netting for Swansea a year ago during a loan spell
Ilias Chair's late equaliser earned QPR a share of the spoils and denied Watford top spot in the Championship.
The Hornets had looked on course for their third straight victory, with defender Ben Wilmot netting his first goal for the club to give them an early advantage at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
But Rangers fought back and deservedly secured a draw, with Conor Masterson's header clipping the woodwork before Chair levelled 13 minutes from time.
The home side might have taken all three points, but a late penalty appeal was waved away after Yoann Barbet appeared to be pulled down in the box.
Watford slipped to fifth in the table, but only two points behind leaders Norwich, while QPR are 18th, six points clear of the bottom three.
Wilmot put the Hornets ahead in only the third minute, prodding the ball into the net after the Rangers defence had failed to clear Ken Sema's cross from the left.
QPR were fortunate not to fall further behind, with William Troost-Ekong nodding a free-kick wide before keeper Seny Dieng foiled attempts by Andre Gray and Ismaila Sarr.
However, the home side should have drawn level before half-time, with Chair's trickery on the edge of the box teeing up Dominic Ball, only for Ben Foster to parry the midfielder's shot at point-blank range.
Rangers grew in strength after the break and Masterson almost equalised when he met Tom Carroll's free-kick with a header that grazed the crossbar.
But substitutes Niko Hamalainen and Lyndon Dykes combined to set up Chair, who scampered through to fire a left-foot finish across Foster and make it 1-1.
Watford found themselves hanging on, with Nathaniel Chalobah somehow escaping unpunished after bundling Barbet over and Dykes' late goal correctly disallowed for handball.
QPR manager Mark Warburton:
"It wasn't a lucky point - I thought we more than deserved it and actually we dropped two points against a very good team.
"We gave away a really poor goal in the first two minutes from a corner but then the reaction was very good. We won the duels, played forward and through midfield.
"As the game went on I thought we looked stronger and stronger. We had chances and I thought we looked in complete control in the second half."
Watford head coach Vladimir Ivic told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"I believe we deserved more in the first half, QPR deserved more in the second half. We cannot be satisfied with the result and the way we played in the second half.
"If the team don't want the game more than the opposing team, we cannot win the game and I believe that was our problem today. It was not the plan to go back and protect the 1-0.
"We created some chances on the counter attack because we had a lot of space and used our fast players, but we missed two or three very good chances to score the second goal."