Coventry City produced a dramatic comeback at Vicarage Road to snatch a 2-2 draw against Watford.
Boothroyd claims point on return to Vicarage Road
Coventry City produced a dramatic comeback at Vicarage Road to snatch a 2-2 draw against Watford.
Malky Mackay's Watford appeared set to follow up an opening game win over Norwich City with another three points after Will Buckley and John Eustace scored.
However, Coventry pulled a goal back on 88 minutes through David Bell before Lukas Jutkiewicz converted a stoppage-time penalty to earn Aidy Boothroyd a point on his return to his old club.
The hosts had Scott Loach back between the sticks following the goalkeeper's shock call-up to the England squad in midweek, which forced Rene Gilmartin to fill in for the 3-0 Carling Cup win at Aldershot.
Boothroyd had a virtually fully-fit squad as they looked to bounce back from their Carling Cup exit at Morecambe, but suffered a blow after just 18 minutes when on-loan goalkeeper Iain Turner was forced off by injury.
The 26-year-old had only arrived at the Ricoh Arena on an emergency loan deal on Saturday morning as cover for Keiren Westwood, who missed the trip due to a family bereavement, but was replaced by Michael Quirke without even having a save to make for the Sky Blues.
Neither side managed to create much of note in the opening stages, with Jutkiewicz firing a long-range effort wide of Loach's goal in the first minute before Buckley saw his strike blocked by Ben Turner at the other end.
Keeper debut
Quirke, who was making his first-team debut for the Sky Blues, had to make a smart save on the half-hour mark following a close-range effort from Marvin Sordell.
However, the 18-year-old academy product could do nothing to stop Buckley from heading home in first-half injury-time following a cross from Lee Hodson.
The Sky Blues failed to provide a response following the break and slipped further behind in the 58th minute.
Don Cowie's outswinging corner was only partially cleared by Nathan Cameron, allowing veteran midfielder Eustace to acrobatically fire past Quirke.
Boothroyd made a double change shortly after the hour mark in an attempt to inject some life into his side, Clive Platt coming on for Freddy Eastwood and Aron Gunnarsson replacing Gary McSheffrey.
But the Sky Blues remained limited to speculative efforts, with Bell and Michael Doyle failing to hit the target from range, before Gunnarsson headed over from just six yards.
However, Loach was beaten two minutes from time by a powerful drive from Bell to reduce the deficit.
Just two minutes later the Sky Blues had the chance to pull level when Lloyd Doyley fouled Richard Keogh in the box and Jutkiewicz made no mistake as he fired home.
