Mitrovic rescues a point for Fulham against Watford

Fulham 1 Watford 1

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Aleksandar Mitrovic’s equaliser 12 minutes from time rescued a point for Fulham.

The Whites – and Alfie Mawson in particular – were all over the place in the first half and trailed at the interval after Andre Gray’s early goal.

But Mitrovic’s eighth goal of the season hauled them level.

Luciano Vietto got the better of Daryl Janmaat on the left and picked out the Serbian striker, who got in front of Christian Kabasele to score from close range.

Watford will be furious with themselves for not having been out of sight by then.

A mixture of slick Watford play and diabolical Fulham defending led to Gray scoring after just two minutes

After Kevin McDonald made a mess of dealing with a long ball and Ryan Sessegnon was beaten by Troy Deeney, Will Hughes set up
Gray with a clever pass and the former Brentford striker coolly fired past Marcus Bettinelli.

Keeper Bettinelli prevented a second goal by denying Deeney after an error by the shaky Mawson.

Mawson then failed to track Kabasele, whose free header from Jose Holebas’ corner was blocked on the line by Sessegnon.

Summer signing Mawson soon made another error, this time when his attempted back-header was pounced on by Gray, whose effort was diverted over by Bettinelli.

As Fulham continued to look a mess at the back, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who was recalled along with Calum Chambers, was arguably fortunate to escape with only a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Deeney after losing possession.

The home side were fortunate again, after another lapse by Mawson, when Watford appealed in vain for a penalty after Hughes got in front of him and went down under a challenge from the beleaguered centre-back, who was replaced by Dennis Odoi at half-time.

Fulham were much improved after the restart and Mitrovic sent a couple of headers over the bar before eventually finding the target.

And he very nearly came up with a winner in the final minute.

After his shot was pushed away by keeper Ben Foster, Mitrovic headed the resulting corner against the bar.