Daniel Jebbison nets against former club as Preston earn point at Watford

Daniel Jebbison scored against his former club as Preston shared a 1-1 draw with Watford at Vicarage Road.

Mamadou Doumbia cancelled out his opener shortly before half-time to continue Watford’s trend of coming back from behind this season.

Watford could have been ahead in the sixth minute when a swift passing move saw Othmane Maamma turn and shoot in the box.

The ball thumped the base of Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen’s right-hand post and rebounded straight to Luca Kjerrumgaard, who blazed over with all the goal to aim at.

Maamma, an Under-20 World Cup winner with Morocco earlier in the season, shot wide before Jebbison broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute.

Lewis Dobbin dispossessed Imran Louza in midfield and burst forward to find Jebbison in space in the box.

The on-loan Bournemouth striker, who failed to find the net for the Hornets in a similar spell last season, slotted calmly across Watford goalkeeper Nathan Baxter.

It was his third Preston goal, with the second having come against Sheffield United, another of his former clubs, in October.

North End tails were up, with Alfie Devine, on loan from Tottenham, going close but Maamma’s ability to twist and turn past defenders set up Louza for a Watford effort that was too high.

Stefan Thordarson went close for North End from a clever free-kick move but Louza, this time set up by Doumbia, fired straight at Iversen at the other end before Marc Bola hit the frame of the Preston goal from distance.

Watford levelled in first-half stoppage time through another slick move that saw Louza send Jeremy Ngakia into the box on the right and Doumbia convert his pull-back for his second goal of the campaign.

Preston came close to regaining the lead early in the second half but Baxter was able to palm Liam Lindsay’s header on to the same post that the Hornets struck in the first half.

Watford took a while to get going again but Edo Kayembe saw a shot deflected behind, with Louza suffering a similar fate not long afterwards.

Devine sent a free-kick behind the home defence that none of his team-mates anticipated as quality levels from both sides began to drop off.

Watford replaced the impressive Maamma for the final 20 minutes with the fit-again Giorgi Chakvetadze, who last featured in April.

It was another substitute, Nestory Irankunda, who almost changed the course of the game deep into stoppage time when he went down under Pol Valentin’s challenge in the box.

Referee James Bell cautioned the Watford man for simulation rather than awarding a penalty.