Leeds 3 Watford 3: Whites denied in real thriller as McDermott hails team’s display

But a half-time prediction from the Leeds United manager proved right on the money, until Troy Deeney had the temerity to spoil things, at any rate.

As interval team-talks go, McDermott’s dressing-room words on Saturday had to be concise, thought-provoking and up-lifting with his side – while not exactly on the floor – in need of a bit of inspiration after going in 2-0 down.

His utterances worked a treat with three goals in front of a seriously pumped-up Kop with the decibel-levels at top whack putting United on the threshold of a famous victory – until a late twist in the tale.

Late disappointment? Yes, after Deeney’s 86th-minute leveller.

But in the context of the whole afternoon, it was a point gained for United, who would have gladly taken a share of the spoils after the opening 45 minutes.

On a day when Leeds remembered one of their own in the late, great Billy Bremner on the 16th anniversary of his untimely death, the hosts turned in a passionate, high-tempo and at times wholly exhilarating performance that the Scot would have approved of.

But credit also to Watford and their manager Gianfranco Zola, a wee genius in his playing days just like ‘King Billy’, with both himself and McDermott rightfully extolling the good as opposed to the not-so-good of their respective side’s performances after the final whistle.

As home supporters left Elland Road, the dismay at seeing two points and a sixth successive home league win slip away – although it could have been all three if it wasn’t for Marius Zaliukas’s save-the-day tackle to deny Joel Ekstrand a remarkable winner at the death – should have been fleeting after being royally entertained in the second half.

With their backs to the wall, United were cajoled incessantly by the Elland Road crowd in a relentless barrage of noise and weren’t found wanting.

It’s something lanky striker Matt Smith, who netted the hosts leveller on 56 minutes – six minutes after Danny Pugh’s first goal for United since October 2011, won’t forget on an afternoon when Leeds players were made to feel 10 feet tall.

“It was a strange game to be involved in; credit has got to go to the manager and the captain for the half-time talk,” he said. “Personally, I was a little deflated and after they scored two goals on the break, we thought how would we get back into the game.

“But the mood was positive and the gaffer said: ‘We can go onto win this game if we get the first goal – the crowd will get behind us.’ We had a very upbeat and uplifting talk and we came out with our full force at the start of the second half and I think they were a little bit taken aback by it.

“With the crowd, I have never heard anything like it in my life. They were unbelievably loud and it really spurred us and gave us that extra lift and we were able to put in three goals. We have kept that unbeaten run going at home and we move on. We showed tremendous character.”

The visit of Watford was memorable for all the wrong reasons last year when United ended up with nine men on the pitch in a madcap afternoon that ended in a late flurry of Hornets goals in a 6-1 victory that Leeds fans would wish to airbrush from history.

While nothing like the misery of that autumn afternoon, the odds were unquestionably on another day to forget with Watford well set for a first win in eight league matches thanks to first-half goals from Deeney and Cristian Battocchio. The 2-0 deficit was tough on United, who had plenty of chances of their own in the opening 45 minutes, but were also exposed on the break by the visitors’ rapier thrusts.

Deeney’s opener was instinctive, a low snapshot which flew past Paddy Kenny on 12 minutes with their second owing much to a deadly counter, allied to some hesitant and naive defending, with Hector Bellerin galloping free before supplying Battocchio, who skipped past a couple of challenges before firing the ball in off the post.

United needed a goal early after the restart and should have had it courtesy of Smith, before it was left for Pugh to hook the ball home at the far post and give the hosts a lifeline.

A classic centre-forward’s header from Smith after great work by Ross McCormack spared the big frontman’s blushes somewhat before a deflected screamer from Alex Mowatt shuddered the woodwork.

All that was left to sign off was a home winner following a welter of pressure and it seemingly came via who else but McCormack – who after seeing an effort ruled out for offside – struck legitimately 12 minutes from time, latching onto Luke Murphy’s classy throughball before dinking the ball past the on-rushing Jonathan Bond.

It was the Championship top gun’s 16th goal of the campaign, tenth in his past six outings and sixth consecutive league goal in matches at Elland Road – something last achieved by Jermaine Beckford early in the 2009-10 season. But another second-tier sharp-shooter in Deeney ensured the post-match celebrations didn’t exclusively belong to the Scot.

On a bittersweet afternoon, Whites chief McDermott added: “It was a great game. In the first 15 minutes we started well and they scored from nothing and then before half-time they scored again. That’s when you find out what you’ve got in your dressing room.

“Spirit can move you to places. I’ve had it before; really good camaraderie. We needed to know what was in the dressing room and I think we found out.

“But it’s not just spirit, there’s quality as well. You can’t have spirit without quality and we had quality in abundance in the second half. We got it back to 2-1 and the whole place erupted as I knew it would. That’s what I said, get that first goal and this place will erupt. I was absolutely proud of my players.

“At 2-1 I thought we would go on and win the game and we very nearly did. Sometimes in life you’ve got to be careful not to be too greedy. At 2-0 down would you take the point? We didn’t because we wanted to win, but we’ll take it now.”

[email protected]