SWANSEA CITY 0 WATFORD 0

SWANSEA failed to mark Bob Bradley’s first home game with victory as Watford held them to a goalless draw at the Liberty Stadium.

The result leaves Swansea in the relegation 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 Swansea’s first clean sheet since the opening day of the season and there was plenty of attacking intent.

But Watford are made of stern stuff under Walter Mazzari and the Hornets’ record extended to one defeat in six games.

Swansea were playing their 100th Premier League game at the Liberty Stadium and they could take encouragement from the fact Watford had not taken three points in south Wales since 1983.

Bradley also saw his new charges start at a good tempo, even if chances were hard to fashion against Hornets’ opponents fresh from keeping their first clean sheet in 13 games at Middlesbrough.

Sigurdsson had a sight of goal after Kyle Naughton robbed Troy Deeney and played a square ball into his path, but Heurelho Gomes was equal to the Icelander’s shot.

Watford’s first-half threat came from free-kicks, but Lukasz Fabianski was never troubled.

Naughton’s cross set up an audacious overhead kick from Borja Baston, which sailed wide and the decibel levels rose as Sigurdsson found space to deliver a shot which was blocked by Valon Behrami.

But Watford were a threat on the break and Naughton twice got in the way of Odion Ighalo inside the box.

The deadlock was almost broken after 64 minutes when Sigurdsson whipped in a free-kick and Gomes denied Mike Van der Hoorn with his legs from a few yards out, although how much the Brazilian knew about it was open to debate.

Sigurdsson himself was unable to convert an excellent opening and, although the winner did not come, it did put to an end Swansea’s run of four straight defeats.