Burnley and Watford's long-awaited relegation showdown ended in a 0-0 draw, with Roy Hodgson picking up a point and clean sheet in his first game in charge
After two successive Covid postponements, the two relegation-threatened sides finally met at a wet and windy Turf Moor with the newly-appointed Hodgson taking his place in the dugout
With defences - or the weather - ultimately coming out on top, Watford kept their first clean sheet in 30 Premier League games since a famous 3-0 win against Liverpool in February 2020
 Burnley have now kept a clean sheet in each of their last four league games against the Hornets
"The crux of it is this clean sheet as an event isn't that important," Hodgson said
 "But it did maybe show the players that the work they've done over the last 10 days and taking on the messages Ray and I have been giving them, that's got to be the encouraging thing
"The result sees Burnley remain bottom of the table on 13 points, but they remain with games in hand over their rivals
 Watford stay in 18th with 15 points, one behind Norwich in the safety of 17th place
Burnley, who had not played at home since December 12, began well
 Deadline Day signing Wout Weghorst linked up with AFCON returnee Maxwel Cornet, nodding the ball down for his new team-mate
 An inadvertent touch from Craig Cathcart pushed Cornet out to the right, but his fierce volley was pushed behind by Ben Foster
But Watford soon began to find their feet
 Juraj Kucka drove down the right of the area before cutting the ball back for the waiting Joshua King
 However, the forward could not make the right connection, slipping over on the slick surface as the ball ran away from him
Burnley were saved by a huge slice of luck shortly before the break
 King had forced the first save from Nick Pope to win Watford a corner, which was delivered by Kiko Femenia
 Joao Pedro nodded the ball on, which Ben Mee inadvertently turned goalwards
 However, it hit Aaron Lennon on the knees, waiting on the touchline, before the ball was smuggled away
Watford saw luck against them again on the stroke of half-time
 There were huge shouts for handball as Ken Sema's attempted cross hit Connor Roberts on the arm, which looked to be in an unnatural position
 Craig Pawson blew the half-time whistle soon after, surrounded by yellow shirts touching their arms
 However, after a brief VAR review, nothing was given as the players made their way to the dressing rooms
Both sides saw chances as the second half began
 Within a minute, Weghorst saw his deflected strike loop onto the top of the crossbar after a good block from Hassane Kamara
 At the other end, Joao Pedro's header forced a good save from Pope
But with time passing by, it was Burnley who had the better chances for a goal
 In a good move
 Cornet's effort forced a diving save from Foster
 Westwood picked up the rebounded ball, flashing it through the six-yard box for the waiting Jay Rodriguez, but the striker was unable to flick it home
Soon after, substitute Rodriguez went close again after a nice ball in from Roberts, but his header wriggled just wide of the far post
 Tom Cleverley also forced a good save from Pope at the other end, but the game ultimately ended with neither side finding the net
"Probably in my time up here, that's as harsh conditions as I've seen
 I thought both sides tried to handle it
"We started very well, took the game on and there was a really good atmosphere in the stadium
 The last 20 minutes, we just lost our way a little bit
"We re-took our grip in the second half
 We've got to change the rhetoric really because it's a similar scenario - we looked solid, played at times, affected the game at times, created chances and didn't finish that off
"On the other hand, another clean sheet is pleasing and a chance to continue building on that… There are some things we have to fast track, but players are getting fitter
 We're missing some good players who have been injured for a while so we're trying to find ways of winning games
"I didn't think there was much in it
 I was pleased with the mentality once again
 We keep going, we're down to the last embers of the game and we're still trying to score a goal, still defending resolutely so there's a positive feel about the group
 We've still got to use all that and add some quality to the moments
"I think Wout did really well
 It's not easy to come into a group, he's accepted what the group are about
 He'll give us hold up play, he'll give us quality and as he gets used to the tempo of the Premier League… I think he'll do well
"Another clean sheet and another point is the minimum we wanted and the maximum would have been a win
"We're a point better off than we were a few seasons ago - it might not sound like a lot, but it could be defining, you never know
 Now it's about the challenge of the second half of the season and how you take that on
""I'm more than satisfied with the performance
 I thought they worked really hard
 This is a notoriously difficult venue - the wind and the rain didn't help either - and we have a lot of players who have just joined the club from foreign teams
 It was a bit of a baptism of fire for them, but I thought they stood up to it very well
"I thought if any team shaded it, it was us
 We had some quite good chances and the players were aggrieved about the penalty, although I don't have a strong opinion because I was too far away from the incident
"When you're fighting at the bottom of the table, you don't always get the rub of the green in those situations, so I'm not going to complain too much about it
"I certainly think it would have been harsh if we'd lost the game and as a result, we have to be satisfied with one point
"I did [see a team that can survive relegation], but that doesn't take away from the magnitude of the task
 We're still a way off that point-to-game ratio you really want to see as you head towards those 38 points, so we've got a lot of catching up to do
"The first ten days with the training have been quite impressive because I've seen a team with great fight for the team
 We do have some fairly talented players… The way we went about our business today against a Burnley team who are, traditionally, very hard to meet here at Turf Moor, I've got to be very satisfied with what the players showed us
"While Mee may not have had his best game, Tarkowski was there to help him out
 He topped the Burnley team for tackles (3 - joint), clearances (7) and fouls won (2)
 He was also good in the head to head moments, leading the way with duels won (16) and aerial duels won (10)
Burnley are back at Turf Moor on Tuesday when they host Manchester United in the Premier League; kick-off 8pm
 Watford also play on February 8 when they travel to West Ham in the Premier League; kick-off 7
45pm
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