Watford 1-1 AFC Bournemouth: Chris Mepham cancels out Stipe Perica strike

Chris Mepham scored a stoppage-time equaliser at Watford to extend Bournemouth's unbeaten start to the Championship season.

The 22-year-old Wales defender turned in from close range as the Cherries piled on the pressure during seven minutes of injury time, denying the Hornets a fourth 1-0 victory of the campaign.

Stipe Perica had scored what looked to be the winner after 12 minutes, meeting Ismaila Sarr's inch-perfect cross at the far post to slide home.

It was a brilliantly worked goal and one of the few moments of genuine quality in the contest, with Craig Cathcart's superb pass to switch the play controlled and then delivered into the box with real class by Sarr.

But Bournemouth were eventually rewarded for their perseverance with a late leveller that preserves their unbeaten record and stopped Watford from moving up to second.

The two teams, both relegated from the Premier League in July, went into the match in good form, having lost just once between them so far this season.

It was the hosts who edged a first half that was both tight and combative, the tone for which was set in the opening two minutes by Cherries defender Lloyd Kelly, who could easily have been sent off for a studs-up challenge on Sarr.

The match opened up after the break, with Sarr only denied by a fine one-handed stop by Asmir Begovic to keep it 1-0, while the impressive Senegalese winger also later appeared to be dragged to the ground by Kelly when through on goal - with Kelly again fortunate to escape without a straight red card.

At the other end, visiting forward Dominic Solanke forced a smart save from Ben Foster and then fired narrowly wide of the post during a lively cameo off the bench.

It seemed as though Bournemouth's clearest chance to equalise had been passed up when Joshua King's header was tipped over by Foster right at the start of the seven added minutes.

However, after the resulting set-piece had initially been cleared, Mepham pounced to prevent a third Watford win in the space of eight days.

Watford boss Vladimir Ivic:

"When you miss two chances to make it 2-0, you have to go back to protect the 1-0 at the end. But I am pleased with the behaviour of my players because they gave their maximum.

"But we need to be realistic and know that we have played against a very good team who have played together for three or four years.

"They have quality players, especially up front, powerful players who can score goals from every position and they didn't create many chances against us.

"Now it's about how we recover the players as fast as possible and to prepare them for the game on Tuesday."

Bournemouth Manager Jason Tindall:

"I've only just seen the (Kelly) challenge and I saw it in slow motion. I've got to be honest and say that on another day it could have been a red card.

"But what I do know is that Lloyd's not that type of character or player where he will purposely do something like that or go in with any type of malice or intent.

"He has been out for a month and I think that showed in the opening half hour of the game. It's difficult when you're out for any length of time, like Lloydy has, to get thrown straight into a game like that.

"I felt we deserved the equaliser. If we hadn't got it, it would have been very harsh, because I felt that we controlled the majority of the game."