Basso the saviour as City and Watford draw a blank
The Championship promotion picture was left as cloudy as ever by a frenetic squabble in the west country that maintained the four-point advantage held by leaders Bristol City over third-placed Watford.
A highly-charged atmosphere in the stands transmitted itself to the pitch as bruising confrontations mixed in equal measure with coherent passages of play.
The streets of the Barclays Premier League may be paved with gold, but the road to it is strewn with debris from tussles such as this one.
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Handy: City goalkeeper Basso stops Henderson's first-half penalty
A penalty miss from Watford's Darius Henderson was the prime example from last night's contest, as City goalkeeper Adriano Basso rescued his team.
The streets around Ashton Gate were virtually gridlocked with traffic an hour before kick-off.
A sign not only of the surge of optimism that has followed City in their first season since promotion, but also of a ground that could not cope with demand if Premier League football were achieved.
A new 30,000-capacity stadium is at least two seasons away.
The Premier League could be accessed in less than two months. It is why last night's match held such significance.
Fill out the equation with sheets of rain and a wind that swooped in and swirled around before departing and the beautiful game was always likely to be secondary to the result last night.
Chances had to be earned.
A low shot from the edge of the area from John Eustace after a quarter of an hour was held comfortably by Basso.
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Marvin Elliot battles for the ball with Watford's John Eustace
A similar effort from Marvin Elliott at the other end four minutes later had Richard Lee scrambling to tip the ball away.
Elliott's accuracy from range was evident again when he forced the Watford keeper into an even more acrobatic stop, Lee arching his back to claw away a shot that seemed destined for the top corner.
Watford by now were struggling to contain the vibrancy of the home's side attacks. Pressed deep into their own half, Aidy Boothroyd's team almost selfdestructed eight minutes before half-time when Lee hacked his clearance straight to Dele Adebola and was fortunate to see the ball ricochet to safety.
Unexpectedly, five minutes of mayhem erupted. A reverse pass from Darius Henderson found Tommy Smith breaking into the City area and drew a clumsy foul from Michael McIndoe. Henderson's penalty was superbly stopped by Basso.
Watford's Darius Henderson holds off a challenge from Tamas Vasko
If that was a moment of clarity, the mist which descended on first Henderson, then Lee Johnson to risk red cards with needless kicks on opponents, earning cautions.
With tempers rising both on the pitch and the touchline where Johnson and Boothroyd exchanged gestures and angry words, the half- time whistle brought a calming release.
Watford emerged with greater urgency after the interval. As the team outside the automatic promotion places, the burden of victory fell more heavily on them, although a John-Joe O'Toole header that drifted wide was the closest they came.
