Craig Dawson has described his equaliser against Leicester City in Watford's first Premier League game back following the coronavirus outbreak as one of great importance.

The former West Bromwich Albion man got forward for a late corner and snatched a point with an unlikely acrobtic effort to make sure the Hornets did not get their relegation battle off to a losing start.

It was his first goal for Watford since joining last summer and one he says showed the team's spirit.

"It was obviously a good goal to score," he said. "But the importance of the goal to get a point after going behind to such a good goal late on in the game, it was important and I think you could see what it meant to everyone. The whole squad were all on their feet and celebrating it and it's an important goal for team spirit and hopefully we can take that into the next game.

"The lads were disappointed to concede so late, but it showed great team spirit that we went up the other end and got the equaliser and it keeps that spirit in the camp."

While he was happy to get his first goal for the club, Dawson said he was disappointed to not have the chance to celebrate with the supporters, who will not be able to attend games for the remainder of the season due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

However he said he has seen some video footage of fans celebrating the goal and that he was pleased to give them something to be cheerful about.

"Once you score a goal you want to go and celebrate with the fans," he said. "You end up running towards the corner and it's a little bit strange that there's no fans here. Hopefully the fans have enjoyed it at home and I've seen a couple of clips that they did and it's great to see them celebrating.

"It's important to keep our momentum going, but it just keeps the spirit in the group high and we take that into the next game now. We just need to recover and prepare well for Burnley now, which is going to be a tough game, but hopefully now we can get a good result."