Rooney's patience pays off with late Gray goal

HEAD COACH HAD CONSIDERED TAKING OFF LATE GOAL HERO

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

WAYNE Rooney admitted he had thought about taking off Andre Gray shortly before the striker scored Plymouth Argyle's dramatic late equaliser to draw 2-2 with Watford at Home Park.

However, the Pilgrims' boss stuck with Gray and that turned out to be a good decision as the former Watford forward got his second goal of the Championship clash in the sixth minute of added time. He beat goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann with an expertly-placed shot into the corner of the net.

As good as that strike was, though, Rooney thought Gray's first goal, which put Argyle level at 1-1 in the 23rd minute, was 'world class!' Coming from the England legend, that was high praise indeed.

Watford went ahead in only the eighth minute with a close-range finish from Vakoun Bayo and they were totally dominant until Gray met a long diagonal cross from defender Lewis Gibson on the volley and showed tremendous precision to hit the target.

The Pilgrims fell behind again shortly before half-time when they were caught out defensively at a free-kick and Ryan Porteous slotted home after the ball had been played across to him by Mattie Pollock.

Watford were seconds away from clinching a third away league win of the campaign until Gray struck decisively against his former employers.

Rooney said: "I'm delighted in the end to get a point. I think Watford are a very good team, a very powerful team and the first 10 minutes we couldn't get to grips with the game.

"After they scored, we did well to get back in the game. It was a fantastic goal from Andre and then I thought we were okay after that. We settled into our shape a little bit and then we concede a terrible goal from our point of view. It was a straight free-kick and a cross across the box.