Watford's Marc Bola shooting and scoring under pressure from Bristol City defender George Tanner.Shutterstock

Watford's Marc Bola opened the scoring with his first goal for the club

Matthew Cresswell
BBC Sport England

Watford and Bristol City played out an entertaining Friday night draw at Vicarage Road in the Championship.

The Hornets, coming off the back of four consecutive victories at home, took an early lead through Marc Bola's calm finish.

Scott Twine levelled for the injury-depleted visitors on the half-hour mark with a trademark free-kick which caught out Watford keeper Egil Selvik at his near post.

The draw moves Watford up a place to 11th in the table while Bristol City stay seventh, outside the play-off positions on goal difference, before Saturday's fixtures.

It took just six minutes for Watford to hit the front as in-form captain Imran Louza played a beautiful pass over the top from deep to Bola, who expertly controlled it in his stride before slipping the ball past City keeper Radek Vitek for his first goal for the club since joining from Turkish side Samsunspor.

The hosts were in control at that stage and could have doubled their advantage but Vitek did well to keep out Edo Kayembe's strike from distance which was cleverly touched towards goal by team-mate Kevin Keben.

That save proved to be pivotal as, soon after, Twine equalised with a whipped free-kick from the left which Selvik could only palm into his own net.

That goal changed the momentum of the game with the visitors dominating the ball but Watford had an opportunity to regain the lead before the break as another Kayembe strike was gathered in by Vitek.

Ten minutes into the second period, Bristol City's Anis Mehmeti received the ball 20 yards out and arrowed an accurate left-foot shot towards the bottom corner but it was smartly tipped around the post by Selvik.

Down at the other end, Bola had a chance to claim his second of the night after Nestory Irankunda did well to get around the back of the City defence but he scuffed his effort wide of the mark.

Twine then found himself in acres of space and put Sinclair Armstrong clear with an inch-perfect through ball but the Bristol City striker was unable to beat Selvik who came out to meet him to make a good one-on-one block.

A Watford corner from the left then found itself all the way to Othmane Maamma at the back post and the Moroccan substitute forced Vitek into a save before the on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper kept out further efforts from Luca Kjerrumgaard and Kwadwo Baah.

Substitute Baah stung the gloves of Vitek late on as Watford racked up 10 shots on target, while fellow replacement Tom Ince's instinctive strike was parried out by the visiting stopper as the hosts had to settle for a point.

'The boys are mentality monsters' - reaction

Watford boss Javi Gracia:

"It is not the result that we expected or we wanted.

"You see the stats today, we had many chances and more possession but it wasn't enough because when we had the chance we didn't kill the game. If you don't kill the game then anything can happen.

"In the second half we lost balance and didn't have the power we needed. We ran a lot, we made a big effort but we only got a point.

"We played more with our hearts more than our heads. We didn't do enough runs behind. That is something we have to work on."

Struber: "We are really happy"

Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We are really happy. In our situation, to pick up a point at Watford, at the moment, is not easy.

"How this group of players invested today, with not the freshest [of] legs, it is a really good performance - I'm really proud.

"The investment, the togetherness, the team dynamic and also how the boys make the right decisions makes me happy.

"Today, the boys showed me outstanding mentality. [They are] mentality monsters and I love to work with players like that."

On Scott Twine's free-kick:

"Scott is our free-kick monster. He has something in his leg that is perfect for us. He can create points with free-kicks but he also created a great chance for Sinclair Armstrong. Outstanding technical power under the highest tempo."

Player of the match

R. Vítek
7.57
10 I. Louza
7.55
16 M. Bola
7.31
6 M. Pollock
7.18
29 J. Petris
7.06
2 J. Ngakia
7.00
42 O. Maamma
6.48
34 K. Baah
6.44
4 K. Keben
6.36
39 E. Kayembe
6.35
1 E. Selvik
6.19
20 M. Doumbia
5.97
9 L. Kjerrumgaard
5.92
66 N. Irankunda
5.82
7 T. Ince
5.81
3 M. Alleyne
5.67
18 Vivaldo Semedo
5.48
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