Last-minute Masina strike earns Watford huge three points at the Cardiff City Stadium

In a tense affair lacking quality, a moment of magic from Adam Masina earned Watford three points in South Wales.

In a battle of contrasting styles, it would be Cardiff to start better out of the two sides at the Cardiff City Stadium. Josh Murphy made the first foray into the visitors penalty area, only to run into an onrushing Daniel Bachmann who saw it out for a goal-kick.

Quarter of an hour passed and Watford were struggling, which Cardiff finally capitalised on, again through Murphy. A darting run and a drilled cross caused mayhem enough for Francisco Sierralta to turn into his own net.

Less than a minute later, Watford found their feet – more specifically, Nathaniel Chalobah. The skipper gained control of a loose ball in the Cardiff penalty area, manoeuvred into space and fired home sumptuously past Dillon Phillips.

Joao Pedro nearly gave Watford the lead with a spectacular overhead kick, but it unfortunately found the cradle of Phillips’ gloves to deny a goal of the season contender.

Mick McCarthy’s men were probably slightly the better side in the first period, but they failed to get the dangerous Kieffer Moore into the game.

Moore would get more involved in the drab beginning of the second period, but Watford came closest with two half chances from Ken Sema and Ismaila Sarr – both not challenging Phillips.

McCarthy tried to freshen things up with a triple substitution, including the injection of pace in Sheyi Ojo’s form, but nothing really materialised for either the Liverpool loanee or his manager.

After a promising start, the game petered out into a quite bitty, dull affair – with both sides lacking the required quality to win.

That remained the case until the 93rd minute. After a needless free-kick was given away on the edge of the box, Adam Masina drilled in to send the Watford dugout into absolute raptures.

The result for Watford takes them level with Swansea in second, with Cardiff missing the chance to overtake Bournemouth after their defeat to Barnsley.

Cardiff City: Phillips; Ng, Morrison, Flint, Nelson, Brown; Vaulks, Ralls; Wilson, Murphy, Moore

Subs: Smithies, Sang, Bacuna, Hoilett, Pack, Williams, Ojo, Watters, Harris

Watford: Bachnmann; Femenia, Troost-Ekong, Sierralta, Masina; Hughes, Chalobah, Zinckernagel; Sarr, Joao Pedro, Sema

Subs: Foster, Ngakia, Lazaar, Wilmot, Cathcart, Sanchez, Hungbo, Gray, Success

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