WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

BBC Sport: Burnley’s hopes of a record-breaking 11th straight Championship win were dashed as they were held to a draw by Watford at Turf Moor.

Sky Sports: A first-half finish from Joao Pedro gave the Hornets the lead but Vincent Kompany’s men escaped with a point after Obafemi popped up deep into stoppage time.

Fran’s Watford Blog: In the end, a draw was a fair result, although it was very disappointing to concede right at the end having defended resolutely.  The second half had been a real rearguard effort, but the chances for Burnley were again restricted.  Hoedt and Porteous are looking really solid in the centre of defence, you would think that they had been playing together for years.  What was especially pleasing was that it was a real team effort.  The past couple of performances have been building to this and it was great to see the Hornets matching the team that are running away with the division.  I was interested to hear the views of the Happy Valleys, who generally only see the games we play in the North.  They were all very impressed and said that they hadn’t seen anything like that performance so far this season.  It was certainly in stark contrast to their last match in Middlesbrough.  The signs were very encouraging indeed and, with performances like that, we now need fear nobody in this division.

The game was scheduled to be played on 15th December but was postponed after a covid outbreak in the Watford squad. It was re-arranged for the 18th January but was postponed again because of an outbreak affecting Burnley. As both sides were already out of the FA Cup it was eventually played on the day when the majority of 4th Round ties were held but had the slightly odd kick off time of 6pm.

BBC Sport: Roy Hodgson said his return to the Premier League as Watford manager was a “baptism of fire” after his side secured a point in his first game at bottom side Burnley.

Sky Sports: With defences – or the weather – ultimately coming out on top, Watford kept their first clean sheet in 30 Premier League games since a famous 3-0 win against Liverpool in February 2020. Burnley have now kept a clean sheet in each of their last four league games against the Hornets.

BHappy: The match itself is carnage.  The extraordinary wind is urgent but directionless – we realise at one point that the corner flags are almost horizontal, but pointing in a variety of different directions.  The game itself follows the same pattern with everything – ball, players, officials, tumbling haphazardly around the pitch as if the whole surface is tipping. At times it resembles Flash Gordon’s confrontation with Prince Barin more than a football match…  I’ve not read any reports, but I’d imagine that “low on quality” features prominently, and that those watching on TV, certainly those uninvested, would have been reaching for the remote control as quickly as Prince Vultan.  In the stadium, fuelled by the wind and the rain and the frantic urgency it’s utterly brilliant, and Daughter 1 – in between sassing at the comments behind us (“yeah, sure, like he could do better”) – is rapt throughout.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Following the Norwich debacle, the departure of Ranieri had been unsurprising, but I don’t think any of us were expecting him to be replaced by Roy Hodgson.  As soon as his name was mentioned, I was thrilled at the thought that Ray Lew would be returning.  The media appearances since Roy’s arrival have been very positive.  I was particularly impressed to hear that he has been speaking to the players in their own languages, including Ken Sema, although “he speaks better English than I do.”