RESULT! Party-pooper Adam ruins Bees’ 4,000th
The result leaves Swansea in the drop zone, but new manager Bradley will be able to draw positives from a performance which almost saw one point turned into three when Gylfi Sigurdsson struck a post late on.
This was their first clean sheet since the opening day of the season and there was plenty of attacking intent, particularly in the second half when, unlike in the final days of Francesco Guidolin’s managerial reign, they kept the foot on the accelerator.
Bradley said: “There were a lot of positives, the first clean sheet in a long time, and there are things to build on.
“The reward didn’t come in the way of three points but it’s not going to stop the work that I’ve seen.
“We’re also going to be honest and say we’re disappointed we’re only taking a point.”
Bradley made a bold selection call by making five changes from the side which pushed Arsenal all the way in losing 3-2 in his first game at the helm.
The American handed Alfie Mawson, signed from Championship club Barnsley in August, his Premier League debut and was rewarded with an impressive display in central defence alongside Dutchman Mike van der Hoorn.
“Mike and Alfie gave us positive play in the centre of defence,” Bradley said.
“Watford is clearly a very different team than Arsenal, and against guys like Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo it was a good way to go.”
Watford have now lost only one of their last six games and this was their second consecutive clean sheet.
“I am happy with the point and the first-half performance, considering it was an away game,” said Watford manager Walter Mazzarri. “The only thing is we should have scored. “In the second half we made some mistakes HOPPING MAD:Bob Bradley tries to get his point across BARNSLEY spoiled Brentford’s 4,000th league game celebrations.
Goals from Adam Armstrong and Sam Winnall either side of the break gave the Tykes their first win over the Bees in seven attempts.
Armstrong broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark when he shinned home Brentford defender Yoann Barbet’s misplaced headed clearance.
And Winnall wrapped up the points midway through the second half by tapping home Armstrong’s sizzling low drive after it had bounced back off the post.
Brentford, unbeaten at home this season, started the brighter but created little and the more energetic visitors grew into the game as the first half wore on.
Bees’ boss Dean Smith, whose side have now taken one point from nine after an impressive start, said a delay on the final ball to leading scorer Scott Hogan was another factor in the defeat.
“We controlled the first half without creating too many chances. There were half-chances for both sides but we gave them a Space Saving Sofa SideTable hand,” he said. “Our decision-making was poor on the ball. We had three or four opportunities to play Scott in but we took an extra touch which slowed play down for us.”
Tykes boss Paul Heckingbottom praised his side for cutting out the errors as they earned a first clean sheet at Griffin Park in seven visits.
“I’m really pleased. It’s what we’ve been after for a few games now, where we’ve performed well and not got our rewards,” he said.
“Today there were fewer errors. It’s been easy to see what the problem has been because the eight goals we’ve conceded have been down to us and things we did wrong. We put that right today.” Signature.....................................