Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Watford: Hornets comeback seals win at Ewood Park

Mileta Rajovic's equaliser for Watford was his fifth goal in his past 10 Championship matchesImage source, Getty Images
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Mileta Rajovic's equaliser for Watford was his fifth goal in his past 10 Championship matches

Two Watford substitutes scored in the final seven minutes to beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 in the Championship.

Midfielder Adam Wharton swept the ball in from a tight angle to give Rovers the lead in just the third minute.

Watford fought to get back into the game in the second half, with striker Mileta Rajovic poking home, before Rhys Healey fired in from close range.

Victory at Ewood Park moved the Hornets up to seventh in the table, with Blackburn slipping to 14th.

Supporters had just settled into their seats when Wharton crept into the box, collected Hayden Carter's perfectly-weighted pass and calmly unleashed a powerful shot into the top corner.

Rovers appeared to be full of confidence and midfielder Jake Garrett had two chances to double their lead, first floating a strike over the bar, before firing wide.

Arnor Sigurdsson showed the usual flashes of quality that have encouraged Blackburn to sign him on a permanent deal this week. The Iceland international tried to squeeze the ball through the legs of Watford goalkeeper Ben Hamer, who got down smartly to save.

After two goals and one assist for Watford in his previous game at Preston, the visitors looked to striker Vakoun Bayo for a way back into the match, but he could only find the side netting with a header.

His manager Valerien Ismael made two changes at half-time and they nearly combined for an equaliser as Yaser Asprilla's clever hold-up play led to defender Ryan Andrews having an effort at goal.

Andrews then created the Hornets' first shot on target as he threaded the ball through to Bayo, who forced Blackburn keeper Leopold Wahlstedt into a diving save.

Shortly after, it was Hamer's turn to be acrobatic to stop Garrett curling in a shot from a well-worked free-kick, as the game started to open up.

Carter then dragged a strike agonisingly wide, before Sigurdsson had a goal disallowed for a foul on Hamer by Rovers substitute striker Harry Leonard.

Time seemed to be running out when Watford midfielder Ismael Kone tried a stinging drive from range, but two more substitutes would make their moments count.

Rajovic pounced to tap home after Asprilla had an effort stopped, and Blackburn's defenders had barely caught their breath before Healey showed composure to slot the ball home.

A stunned home side had little time to react as Watford held on to secure a third consecutive away league win for the first time since 2017, when they were a Premier League side.

Blackburn Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"That is a hard result to take of course. It is unbelievable that we are standing with nothing.

"We dominated the game in the first 70 minutes, played some excellent football.

"The only criticism which we can have is we didn't kill off the game with the chances we had in both halves.

"Probably the biggest moment of the game is when the goalie of the opponent dropped the ball and they disallowed the goal."

Watford manager Valerien Ismael told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"The first half, we were too complacent. This is what we have to learn.

"At half-time, I was loud with the players.

"If we think that 80% will be enough to win a game in the Championship, then we make a big mistake and we will have a lot of regrets.

"The second half, we showed another mentality and desire to do the right thing. The win [comes] with a warning to be at 100% to get our reward."

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