Burnley 1-1 Watford: Michael Obafemi nets his first goal to rescue a point for the Clarets

We were in the dying blows of stoppage time and many had already left Turf Moor into the cold Lancaster night.

Burnley earned a final corner and their goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell ran into the Watford penalty area.

Perhaps it was the confusion caused by his shiny shirt in the middle of the player scrum, but Watford simply didn’t deal with the delivery.

He went over everyone’s head and found Lyle Foster, whose scrambled shot went wide of the post and fell to substitute Michael Obafemi to move Burnley within a point of the Premier League.

This was seconds away from being a rare bad night for the Clarets in their relentless assault on the promotion, and they alone were to blame.

Burnley salvaged a point against Watford after Michael Obafemi scored in stoppage time for the hosts

It was Obafemi’s first goal for Burnley since joining Swansea on loan in the January window.

Joao Pedro gave Watford the visiting advantage midway through the first half after a bad mistake by Aro Muric

But the point was fully deserved and puts them 18 behind third-placed Middlesbrough, a luxury rarely seen in this notoriously difficult division. It remains a question of when, rather than if.

Plus, with Boro heading to second-placed Sheffield United on Wednesday night, one or both will drop points.

The biggest shame is that having equaled a 110-year-old club record of 10 consecutive league wins by beating Preston on Saturday, Burnley failed to rewrite that particular line in their record books.

But they broke a 96-year-old club record by scoring in a 28th consecutive league game.

Obafemi also spared the blushes of his goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, whose howl had given Watford’s Joao Pedro the goal that seemed to complete a double over the elected champion.

Watford had the pre-match distinction of being one of two teams to beat the leaders in the Championship this season and that goes back to August.

We had little idea back then that Burnley, with their new manager and plenty of new faces, would be able to mount a promotion challenge.

As it turns out, they didn’t just mount a promotion challenge, they completely dominated the division.

They came roaring out of the blocks here, almost taking the lead in the first minute.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson received a through ball from Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann, but the ball went straight to Ashley Barnes on the edge of the box.

His first shot looked wide, but Bachmann reached up and managed to deflect the ball over the crossbar.

Soon after, it was Hassane Kamara who crossed from left-back into blocking after Josh Cullen played behind Nathan Tella.

Burnley weren’t entirely comfortable with Watford’s pressure disrupting their passing game, but they were certainly looking at every opportunity.

The Hornets allowed the always dangerous Anass Zaroury to come in from his left wing position and punt the bar from 20 yards out.

Then, from a corner, what appeared to be a tame shot from Gudmundsson actually found post-back running back Barnes, who could only find the side netting.

But there was an uncharacteristic vulnerability to Burnley when playing from behind and it was epitomized by their goalkeeper Muric, who had missed several passes before his colossal error led to the opener on 32 minutes.

It was a hopeful long pass out of Ryan Porteous’s defense that searched for Joao Pedro, but it looked like a touch passed and everyone expected Muric to take care of it.

But the ball bounced off the top of Muric’s knee and when he couldn’t recover on the second time he asked, Pedro played it back to Keinan Davis, who found Ken Sema.

Burnley’s Johann Gudmundsson had an early effort saved by Daniel Bachmann which was followed by Barnes whose effort hit the bar.

Championship leaders Burnley struggled to break through a determined Watford defense until stoppage time.

Nathan Tella came close in the second half but was kept out by Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann.

Sema had time and space to collect his pass and his low kick was fired into an unprotected net by Joao Pedro.

There had still been enough about Burnley’s performance for them to be applauded at the interval, but frustration was the prevailing emotion on Turf Moor.

In reality, Muric was taken off by Kompany at half time, with Bailey Peacock-Farrell taking the gloves.

Burnley charged to lay siege to the Watford goal. Barnes sliced ​​a shot wide off, then Gudmundsson fired straight at Bachmann from range.

The game took a ridiculous turn when Burnley won a succession of corners, leading to tangles between Barnes and Wesley Hoedt that tested the patience of referee Leigh Doughty.

Ameen Al-Dakhil then went down, claiming that Hoedt had punched him in the face when replays showed only an accidental connection, if any.

The distraction was about to work when a corner kick was deflected towards his own goal by a header from Sema and touched by Tella but Bachmann covered closely.

In the closing minutes, substitute Scott Twine struck a 30-yard free kick not far from the crossbar.

Deep into the six minutes of stoppage time, Doughty dismissed Burnley’s handball appeals after Obafemi’s header struck Mario Gaspar, just inches away. But he would have the last word.