Portsmouth pegged back yet again as Cox rescues Watford

Watford 2 Portsmouth

Harry Redknapp can point to the fact that Portsmouth are five points clear and have been beaten only twice this season, but he still had to settle for yet another draw, Pompey's fifth in six games, at a sodden Vicarage Road last night.

Portsmouth were again missing injury victims Paul Merson and Steve Stone, both on the bench, as they sought to take full advantage of Leicester's game at Reading being called off at half-time because of a waterlogged pitch. Few would have been surprised had proceedings at Watford suffered the same fate as two inspections were needed before the surface was it was deemed playable.

Portsmouth lost Arjan de Zeeuw after just five minutes, when the Dutch-born defender was forced to limp off following a challenge by Heidar Helguson, with Jason Crowe taking his place.

But after a couple of early scares, the league leaders seized control as they won the battle for midfield supremacy. Twice in the first half the veteran Watford goalkeeper, Alec Chamberlain, rescued his side with fine stops from Bulgarian international Svetoslav Todorov, who also fired just wide. Chamberlain was also perfectly placed to hang on to a fierce drive from Kevin Harper as Portsmouth created a string of opportunities.

On the pudding of a pitch, Watford tried hard to upset Portsmouth's rhythm and put together an encouraging spell just before the break as Gifton Noel-Williams, on his first start for 10 months, almost squeezed the ball home and was denied only by a terrific interception from Hayden Foxe.

Watford stepped up a gear after the interval, forcing four corners in as many minutes and swarming all over Pompey. Matthew Taylor cleared a Marcus Gayle effort off the line and Noel-Williams missed a sitter as Portsmouth were unexpectedly rocked back on their heels and fell behind on 51 minutes, when Micah Hyde raced through the middle to force the ball home after fine work by Jermaine Pennant down the right.

The Watford crowd, until then strangely muted, were suddenly lifted but within a further six minutes their team were chasing the game. First Deon Burton took advantage of a hesitant home defence to equalise from close range, then Kevin Harper curled a delightful shot beyond Chamberlain to give Portsmouth the lead following a poor backpass.

As the Pompey chimes rang out behind Chamberlain's goal, all Watford's good work seemed to have come to nothing but there was yet more drama to come. With nine minutes left, skipper Neil Cox stole in unmarked at the far post to put the home side back on level terms and set up a storming finale that could have gone either way.

Watford (4-4-2): Chamberlain; Cox, Gayle, Brown, Robinson (McNamee 65); Pennant (Smith, 73) Hyde, Vernazza (Nielsen, 73) Ardley; Helguson, Noel-Williams. Substitutes not used: Mahon, Lee (gk)

Portsmouth (3-5-2) Hislop; Primus, Foxe, De Zeeuw (Crowe, 5); Harper, O'Neill, Diabate, Quashie, Taylor; Burton (Pericard, 60), Todorov (Merson, 80). Substitutes not used: Stone, Kawaguchi (gk).

Referee: P Rejer (Worcestershire).