The hardy souls who braved a miserable night at the City of Manchester Stadium were treated to the unexpected sight of a match made in heaven, but unfortunately for them the match in question concerned the two home supporters who got engaged on the pitch at half-time rather than the 45 minutes of attrition either side of the interval.

It is rarely a classic when Watford are in town, but do not expect Adrian Boothroyd, Watford’s pragmatic young manager, to apologise for that after his team ended a three-game losing streak with a hard-fought, if uninspiring, draw.

They remain nineteenth in the Barclays Premiership while the frustration for Manchester City, still without consecutive league wins since October 2005, was that, when not brought down to the visiting team’s level, they were denied by the excellence of Richard Lee, Watford’s stand-in goalkeeper. A less charitable opposing manager might have bemoaned Watford’s physical style — not least the fact that Joey Barton, the City midfield player, was caught by stray elbows from Damien Francis and Gavin Mahon — but not Stuart Pearce, for whom it was a welcome throwback.

“It was back to my non-league days, a proper physical game,” the former England and, lest we forget, Wealdstone defender said. “I told Aidy I would have loved to have been out there involved in that. Watford were organised, dogged, aggressive, you name it, and they stifled the game. All credit to them. Why should I complain?” Boothroyd was cheered to hear the verdict from the opposing dugout. “That’s nice of him to say that,” the Watford manager said, aware that some of the Premiership’s aristocrats have not been so magnanimous. “We have to battle every week. We have to stand firm and be resolute and we’ve had five clean sheets now, which is important for us.”

The problem for Watford is that while they are indeed proving hard to break down, they lack the cutting edge to turn draws into wins, particularly with Marlon King out for the foreseeable future. They had their chances in the first half last night, invariably coming from high balls into the penalty area, but Nicky Weaver recovered superbly to keep out Francis’s looping header and Dan Shittu struck the crossbar, also with a header, in first-half stoppage time. Their forwards, Darius Henderson and Ashley Young, worked tirelessly, but to no great effect.

It was an uncomfortable evening for City, a bruising warm-up for Saturday’s derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but they would have claimed three points had it not been for the excellence of Lee. Hitherto best known for his exploits as a budding entrepreneur on BBC Two’s Dragon’s Den programme, the goalkeeper was making only his fifth appearance at this level, but he saved well to deny Micah Richards and Georgios Samaras in the first half, then Barton — from a clever free kick — and Bernardo Corradi in the second.

City could also grumble about a couple of decisions that went against them. The outcome would have been different had a header by Richards not been disallowed in the fifth minute for a perceived push by Corradi on Jay DeMerit, or had Corradi not fallen a little too dramatically in the penalty area after a clumsy challenge by DeMerit in the closing stages. But, whether City had scored in the first minute or the last, it was never likely to be a thriller with Watford in this mood. Still, at least two people went home happy.

Manchester City (4-4-2): N Weaver — M Richards, R Dunne, S Distin, B Thatcher — H Trabelsi, C Reyna (sub: D Hamann, 80min), J Barton, D Vassell — B Corradi, G Samaras (sub: I Miller, 64). Substitutes not used: N Onuoha, P Dickov, A Isaksson. Booked: Vassell.

Watford (4-4-2): R Lee — J Chambers, J DeMerit, D Shittu, J Stewart — T Smith, D Francis, G Mahon, H Bouazza — A Young, D Henderson. Substitutes not used: A McNamee, A Bangura, A Mariappa, T Priskin, A Chamberlain. Booked: Francis, Mahon, Chambers.

Referee: M Clattenburg.