Portsmouth climbed out of the Championship relegation zone, despite being denied a rare Vicarage Road victory by Watford substitute Mamadou Doumbia.
The visitors were heading for their first win at Watford since April 1996 thanks to Adrian Segecic’s well-taken 73rd minute goal.
But the play-off-chasing hosts levelled just six minutes later through Doumbia, following a mistake by Portsmouth’s Austrian goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.
The draw leaves Watford just outside the top six, while Portsmouth lifted themselves above Blackburn Rovers into 21st.
Moving out of the drop zone should give Pompey some confidence as they head into Sunday’s meeting with fierce rivals Southampton, while Watford missed the chance to get back into the play-off palces.
Portsmouth were the brighter of the two sides early on with new signing Ebou Adams impressing a big away following with an enthusiastic opening few minutes.
A low-key game threatened to burst into life after 35 minutes when Pompey called for a penalty after the ball appeared to strike Jeremy Ngakia’s arm from a Segecic corner. Referee Ben Toner waved play on.
At the other end Watford went close themselves when Othmane Maamma was played in by Giorgi Chakvetadze, only to drive his shot wide when he had just the keeper to beat.
The hosts grew in confidence during the opening throes of the second half, with Portsmouth struggling to maintain their opening flurry.
The visitors were presented with a glimmer of hope just after the hour when Segecic saw his curled goal-bound effort safely collected by Egil Selvik. Watford’s Tom Ince was denied by Pompey’s Schmid, as the game started to open up.
It was Segecic who handed the visitors the lead in the 73rd minute. Milli Alli won the ball for Conor Chaplin, who rolled a pass to the unmarked Australian to strike a low left-footed shot inside Selvik’s left-hand near post.
But Portsmouth’s advantage lasted only six minutes, thanks to Doumbia’s equalising goal for the Hornets.
Rocco Vata, coming on as a substitute for his first game since November, sent in an out-swinging left-wing cross that should have been easily claimed by Schmid.
But the Portsmouth goalkeeper dropped the ball straight into the feet of Luca Kjerrumgaard. The Dane managed to scramble the ball into the path of 19-year-old Doumbia, who curled home from 15 yards.
