Inspired Lee earns Hornets precious point

TV STAR Richard Lee ensured Manchester City suffered a video nasty in front of the Sky cameras at Eastlands as relegation-threatened Watford grabbed a vital Barclays Premiership point.

The Watford keeper’s major claim to fame so far is an appearance on the BBC’s ‘Dragon’s Den’ programme when he made £150,000 selling 50% of his business ‘Dr Cap’.

But, handed his chance by Ben Foster’s knee injury, Lee proved he is an able performer on the field too, producing a string of fine saves to deny City.

And, with referee Mark Clattenburg turning down appeals for a penalty two minutes from time when Jay Demerit sent Bernardo Corradi tumbling, City were unable to achieve back-to-back Premiership victories for the first time in 14 months.

All the assurance of last week’s win over Aston Villa seemed to be lost as the Blues struggled to cope with a limited Watford side’s enthusiasm.

Had it not been for Nicky Weaver’s agility, Damien Francis would have put the Hornets in front after seven minutes.

Tommy Smith seemed to lob a cross into the area more in hope than expectation but Francis got superb accuracy with his looping header, forcing Weaver to back-pedal frantically before clawing the ball out.

Lee did equally well to snuff out the danger not long afterwards when Watford failed to deal with Joey Barton’s corner.

Lee also produced a fine low stop to deny Richards.

At the other end, Danny Shittu then planted a header against the crossbar from Young’s corner in first-half stoppage-time.

The tedium continued for 20 minutes after the interval until Barton’s curling free-kick was magnificently saved by Lee. The Watford keeper scrambled to his feet to block Corradi’s attempt.

The hosts continued to look more like getting a winner but the optimism was sapped from their legs when Corradi’s pleas for a late penalty met only with a firm shake of the head from Clattenburg.

MAN CITY: Weaver, Richards, Dunne, Distin, Thatcher, Trabelsi, Barton, Reyna (Hamann 80), Vassell, Corradi, Samaras (Miller 64).

WATFORD: Lee, Chambers, DeMerit, Shittu, Stewart, Smith, Francis, Mahon, Bouazza, Henderson, Young.

Referee: M Clattenburg.