Adrian Boothroyd bemoaned his Watford side's inability to hold on to a lead after they drew 2-2 at Burnley in the Championship on Saturday.Second-half substitute Robbie Blake came off the bench to score twice to earn the Clarets a share of the points in a tempestuous Turf Moor affair and prevented them from occupying an automatic promotion spot in the table.

The Hornets went ahead through Darius Henderson who headed in from Jobi McAnuff's cross while the Lancashire side squandered a number of chances before Blake levelled with 15 minutes to go.

Watford appeared to have won the game when Jordan Stewart put them ahead with five minutes to go but Blake calmly slotted in his second to draw the hosts level in the 88th minute.

Boothroyd rued his side's wastefulness and said: "It's not my favourite place coming here.

"Before the game I would have settled for a point but to go ahead twice I would expect us to win the game.

"I thought overall it was a fair game but we shot ourselves in the foot twice.

"I thought it was a game of missed chances."

The hosts dominated the opening phase of the game but had nothing to show for their efforts which included a miss by Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty.

Striker Ade Akinbiyi also missed an open goal after Watford goalkeeper Richard Lee saw his clearance charged down by Chris McCann.

The home team were made to pay for those missed opportunities as Watford striker Henderson was completely unmarked as he headed home a corner from McAnuff.

Watford should have increased their lead but spurned chances by Nathan Ellington and Henderson.

The second half saw another amazing miss from Akinbiyi, this time heading over the crossbar after Lee failed to hold a shot from Lafferty.

It seemed as though this was not to be the home side's day when McCann headed a corner from substitute Robbie Blake against the post.

But Burnley equalised after 75 minutes when a back-heel from Andy Cole enabled Blake to fire beyond Lee.

But it took Watford only 10 minutes to restore their lead as Burnley failed to clear a free kick and Watford substitute Stewart lashed home a fine left-foot shot.

But the home team showed tremendous character to equalise for a second time with fullbacks Alexander and Harley combining to allow Blake to calmly slot in his second.

Clarets boss Owen Coyle was delighted with the result and said: "I felt we were outstanding, we got the ball down and passed it and offered enough to win the game.

"We created gilt-edged chances but switched off at a corner and free kick.

"The players have to stand up and be counted and they bounced back to get the equaliser.

"We will always try and get the ball down and play. We offered a lot to the game and I am delighted. I have nothing but praise for the team."

More Football News from TEAMtalk