Watford 1-1 West Ham: Own Goal Cancels Out Nabizada Wondergoal
West Ham’s wait for a first Championship win goes on after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Watford in front of Vicarage Road’s biggest crowd in six years.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were booed off by sections of their own travelling support, who turned on their under-pressure manager with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” despite a much-improved second-half showing. West Ham’s struggles to live up to their billing as promotion favourites continue after previously letting a two-goal lead slip at Burnley and suffering a shock home defeat to Charlton.
This time they fell behind to a stunning strike from 19-year-old Watford prospect Amin Nabizada, and needed a fortunate equaliser born out of a defensive mix-up to salvage a point. Nuno gave a first-team debut to 18-year-old defender Airidas Golambeckis, who impressed with a composed display at the back.
West Ham had already survived one Nabizada effort curling narrowly wide before Watford took the lead in the 19th minute. The Afghanistan international appeared to have no route to goal when the ball reached him in the box, but he improvised superbly, dinking a delicate chip over Mads Hermansen and into the far corner — reminiscent of Gerard Deulofeu’s famous effort for the Hornets against Wolves in the FA Cup semi-final seven years ago.
The goal briefly rattled West Ham, but Watford handed them a way back soon after. Defender Kevin Keben attempted to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick along his own byline, only to be dispossessed by Taty Castellanos, and home captain Mattie Pollock turned the loose ball into his own net from close range.
The nature of the equaliser seemed to knock the early confidence out of Watford, and Keben in particular looked shaken for a spell, though he recovered his composure as the game went on.
West Ham grew into the contest after the break, with Arne Engels firing narrowly off target and Manor Solomon denied only by a last-ditch Pollock challenge. Despite their dominance, the visitors were made to work until the end, with Joel Veltman needed to make a crucial deflected clearance to deny Iker Bravo a late winner on the counter.
Watford spent much of the second half on the back foot but held on for a point that extends head coach Alessio Dionisi’s unbeaten start to the Championship season. Working with a threadbare squad — he named two goalkeepers among his substitutes — Dionisi will have taken satisfaction from the response after his weakened side were thrashed 5-1 by League One’s Peterborough in the Carabao Cup during the week.
