Stoke and Watford played out a drab 0-0 Championship draw at the bet365 Stadium as neither side were able to give a boost to their respective end-of-season ambitions.
Mark Robins’ relegated-threatened Potters avoided a third successive defeat to remain five points above the drop zone and might have snatched a late winner but for Egil Selvik’s brace of saves.
Play-off chasing Watford missed the chance to record a third straight win and are three points off the top six.
Stoke’s resolute performance at least appeased their fans, Robins having admitted he understood their frustration and anger at the end of the team’s midweek defeat by Middlesbrough.
Those same supporters gave plenty of early vocal backing to the Potters, not slow either to boo their one-time £10 million signing Tom Ince.
But there was precious little goalmouth action to prolong the enthusiastic backing.
Striker Ali Al-Hamadi, though, was a willing runner and he eventually set up a decent shooting chance for Lewis Koumas, but the winger’s effort fizzed well wide.
It took Junior Tchamadeu’s tackle on Yasser Larouci after 32 minutes to crank up the noise levels again.
A scuffle ensued before referee Tom Nield booked Ben Pearson and Hornets captain Imran Louza.
Watford enjoyed a 70-30 percent possession split approaching half-time without doing anything positive with it.
They also gained their first corners of the half but again failed to trouble Viktor Johansson in the Stoke goal.
Ince then teased a cross towards the six-yard box, but Edo Kayembe could not make a telling contact.
Watford fashioned the first chance after the break, with Giorgi Chakvetadze only fractionally wide with a curling right-footed effort from outside the penalty box.
Mamadou Doumbia’s left-footed attempt then flashed past Johansson’s other post as the visitors sought a breakthrough.
The Hornets went close for a third time in quick succession as Chakvetadze threaded a pass through to Larouci, whose angled close-range shot was deflected behind for a corner.
Stoke survived again on the hour as Ben Wilmot headed against his own post from Louza’s deflected cross.
Robins then introduced Sam Gallagher, but there were boos when Al-Hamadi’s number went up.
The final jeers towards Ince came after 69 minutes when he was part of a double change from Watford boss Tom Cleverley.
A poor spectacle continued to be further hampered by a constant stream of fouls, mostly going against the home side.
With seven minutes left Stoke finally tested Norwegian Selvik, but substitute Million Manhoef’s shot was straight at the keeper.
Having waited so long to threaten the visitors’ goal, City did it again a minute later.
This time Selvik was at full stretch to keep out Bae Jun-ho’s header, the final chance of a frustrating stalemate.
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