TOM CLEVERLEY marked his 33rd birthday with the only goal of the game as 10-man Watford defeated Burnley to move top of the Sky Bet Championship.
Irish international Josh Cullen and Limerick native Dara Costelloe both started for Vincent Kompany’s side, while former St Patrick’s Athletic defender Luke McNally made his debut for the club off the bench
Captain Cleverley slotted home on the stroke of half-time to put the Hornets ahead in the battle between two teams looking to make an immediate return to the Premier League following their relegations last season.
Hassane Kamara was shown a straight red card for a professional foul nine minutes from time but the Clarets could not get the better of home goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann and succumbed to their first defeat under Kompany.
Watford handed a first start to former Spain defender Mario Gaspar and an immediate debut to Leicester loanee Hamza Choudhury while summer signing Manuel Benson started for the first time for Burnley.
There was no sign of Emmanuel Dennis in the Watford squad however as a move to Nottingham Forest was “progressing”, according to Watford boss Rob Edwards, who has loaned fellow forward Ashley Fletcher to Wigan for the season.
The heat was a likely factor in the low-quality threshold early on, with Ismaila Sarr, scorer of a wonder goal from the halfway line at West Brom last week, guilty of blasting over the Burnley bar.
Fortunately for Watford, Cleverley was not so profligate when he was presented with his chance as he slotted the hosts ahead in first-half stoppage time.
Sarr found Ken Sema in space on the right of the box and his cutback was perfect for the Watford skipper to side-foot home from 12 yards.
Cleverley had been hurt by a challenge in the act of scoring however and did not reappear for the second half.
Burnley almost equalised five minutes into the second period when Samuel Bastien played Josh Brownhill in on the left of the box but Bachmann stuck out a leg to make the first of many excellent saves.
Bastien fired wide on the turn from Burnley’s next attack of note and Brownhill spooned another chance over from the edge of the box.
Bachmann denied Brownhill once more with his legs as Burnley pushed forward for an equaliser.
Kamara was sent off with nine minutes remaining for a professional foul on Vitinho, the Burnley substitute. The left-back’s poor touch allowed his opponent to sprint towards goal and Kamara pulled him back by the shirt before he could reach the box.
Burnley fans thought they had scored from Brownhill’s free-kick but Bachmann reacted superbly to tip it round a post.
It was not Brownhill’s night as he finally beat Bachmann in stoppage time only to see the ball bounce back off the bar and Burnley’s final chance was side-footed straight at the keeper by McNally.
God bless him. Hiding being gay for years hiding the HIV also . The years and years of stress that he put himself under is sad. Always came across as a great genuine nice guy. Hope he has a long long life ahead of him still . I wish u well
@john s: did you read a different article to me? He said he has HIV, being gay was never mentioned but you assume he must be gay if he has hiv? Or did i miss something
@Karl Charlie: in fairness to John S (whoever he is) I didnt take you’re interpretation of what he’d written.
@Karl Charlie: he is gay that’s a fact do you not no who he is ?
@Karl Charlie: came out in 2009..
@Karl Charlie: in fairness to John S (whoever he is) I didn’t take your interpretation of what he’d written.
@bmul: i realised that after i googled it!! No idea who the lad is i dont follow uk sports teams
@Karl Charlie: classic example of contrived outrage….you go off on one not knowing who you are talking about….
Poor man. Seems to have been tormented all his life, both internally and externally. Medically, HIV has a different prognosis now. Socially, there’s still a stigma associated with it. Hats off to him. He’s a hell of a role model for anyone.
Best wishes to the man. He always came across as very genuine. A role model for anyone who has an interest in compassion and humanity.
We all worry about what People think, wasting our energy away, Gareth is a Wonderful Human Being, an inspiration to us all. Please God he will live many Happy years with this condition.
@tennis nut: why would his HIV status have anything to do with his rugby? I have a feeling you may need to educate yourself further if you think it does
@Vocal Outrage: because there is potential for blood contamination
@tennis nut: I’ll tell you who isn’t inspirational. A small minded bigot who doesn’t have the balls to to step out from the veil if anomomity.
@tennis nut: It’s because of judgemental people like you that causes the fear in others not to come out and say who or what they are. Watch the interview with Nigel Owens and it may help you understand where these people are and the horror they feel in having to ‘come out ‘. It may even educate you an g o d knows it seems like you need it.
@thomas patrick: You might need to educate yourself. Nowadays, if he is taking his treatment as prescribed, the virus reaches undetectable levels and is virtually untransmittable. The only recorded cases of transmission, a small number anyway, have been when patients were taking their treatment irregularly.
What’s shameful is the fact that society made it so hard for him to be who he is. Life with HIV is not what it was decades ago. Wishing him all the best. Brave man.
@Laura Mulcahy: how did society make it hard for him ? I think you ll find that when people come out they quickly find the opposite.
Wow unreal best of luck to him
@Louise Lennon: Is it Sunday?
@Darren: why does everyone automatically think he’s gay because of hiv?
@Louise Lennon: because he came out as gay years ago!!!!!!
@Louise Lennon: because he’s gay?
@Louise Lennon: The whole coming out thing made it pretty obvious Louise.
@vfagan: gay or not gay hiv is real!!
@Louise Lennon: take the shame and be out :)
@Louise Lennon: take the shame and BOW out I meant:( ;)
@Louise Lennon: stop digging Louise.