Southampton discovered that the Sky Bet Championship will be an unforgiving arena this season as they were baited about ‘Spygate’ on their way to being beaten 2-1 by a new-look Watford side at Vicarage Road.
Playing their first league fixture since the espionage affair that saw them thrown out of the play-offs in May, Tonda Eckert’s side had no answer to the home team’s energy and tenacity.
Summer signing Iker Bravo and teenage academy product Amin Nabizada gave new Watford manager Alessio Dionisi a fine win while Southampton’s players were heckled, both on the pitch and from the stands, for their actions at the end of last season.
When Taylor Harwood-Bellis screwed a stoppage-time shot badly wide, the defender who was seen as one of the villains of the ‘Spygate’ saga was verbally riled by a succession of Watford players.
The Watford goals both came from errant Southampton passes.
Jack Stephens’ aimless kick was seized upon by Bravo, a summer arrival from Udinese. The 21-year-old Spaniard did not hesitate, driving forward and stabbing the ball home.
The goal lifted the uncertainty that had enveloped Vicarage Road in the build-up to the new Championship season.
Australia winger Nestory Irankunda was sold to Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon 24 hours earlier while last season’s captain Imran Louza was left out of the squad by Dionisi after the midfielder again asked to leave the club.
Bravo’s positivity was adopted by his team-mates, with Othmane Maamma sending in a shot was bundled behind by Daniel Peretz at his near post.
On the opposite wing, Watford youth product Nabizada seized on another wayward Southampton pass, this time by Ryan Manning, to speed away down the right.
It appeared as if the teenager had pushed the ball too far as he drove into the Southampton area before he suddenly unleashed a low shot into the far bottom corner.
The first half was also notable for the five bookings in a feisty half which ended with the home supporters rising as one to give their new side a standing ovation as they left the pitch.Dionisi’s team continued to harry their opponents in the second half, surrounding the player in possession at every possible moment.
They were brave, too, with Nabizada playing a clever reverse pass into the path of Omar Traore whose shot was blocked by the legs of Peretz.
That stop proved pivotal when Southampton reduced their arrears. Cameron Bragg stabbed the ball through to Cyle Larin 10 yards from goal and the Canada international slid the ball past Federico Ravaglia.
Within a minute the new Watford keeper was forced into a reaction save low down from Larin’s sweeping volley.
Seconds later at the other end, it might have been 3-1 to the hosts when the lively Bravo looked certain to extend Watford’s lead only for Manning to charge down his shot with a brilliant sliding challenge.
Southampton mounted a late siege to the Watford goal but Harwood-Bellis wasted their clearest opening.