Nathan Redmond scores on his Southampton debut to earn a 1-1 draw against ten man Watford at St Mary's

Watford took the lead after just nine minutes with Etienne Capoue volleying home from inside the area in a frustrating first half for Saints.

However, £10m summer signing Redmond popped up 13 minutes into the second period to level things up.

Watford had sub Ben Watson sent off just 12 minutes after he came off the bench but they managed to hold on for a creditable opening day point.

Saints came so close to opening the scoring in the opening moments of the game.

James Ward-Prowse was brought down by a high boot leaving Dusan Tadic the chance to shoot from 20 yards out with a left footed free kick.

Heurelho Gomes got down to his right and pushed the ball back out into the area but had to react quickly to save again from Miguel Britos who had unwitting deflected the ball back towards his own goal.

Watford’s 3-5-2 system was allowing Cedric Soares to get a bit of space down the right side and he opted to shoot from distance on eight minutes but it was a fairly comfortable save for Gomes.

Just a minute later it was Watford’s time to get some width, and they scored.

A deep cross from the right was met by the head of Troy Deeney at the far post who directed it back across goal.

Etienne Capoue was making the break into the area from deep and slid in to meet the ball and smashed home a volley for 1-0.

Saints had started confidently but after falling behind were suddenly nervy, while Watford looked so vulnerable at the back and yet so threatening going forward.

The St Mary’s crowd were also starting to grow a little restless as the patient possession football along the backline failed to make serious inroads.

For their part Watford were happy to get men behind the ball with a lead to defend and make themselves hard to break down.

Dusan Tadic was one player providing some inspiration and showed great skill to work himself a yard in the box to stand up a far post cross that Shane Long fought hard to win in the air but headed wide.

The problem for Saints was that Watford were not playing high enough up the pitch any more for a counter attacking type of game, with virtually no space in behind them as they were very deep.

They did concede space out wide for the Saints full backs but when the ball came in the box they didn’t really have a target man type striker.

Soares was allowed more time and space to line up a shot in first half stoppage time. He hit it with outside of his right and boot and it swerved and dipped a little in the air but Gomes got down to his right to push it away.

When the half time whistle went it was Puel with a lot of thinking to do.

Saints again looked hungry at the start of the second half, but it was still creating chances that was proving the major problem.

Watford were still happy to defend deep but did attempt a couple of early breaks, albeit nobody was on the end of crosses into the box.

Puel had to do something to shake things up but opted to change personnel rather than style or system with summer signing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg coming on for Ward-Prowse on 54 minutes.

Nathan Redmond showed a glimpse of the promise that Puel has seen in him two minutes later as he picke dup the ball on the right and cut inside before hitting a curling left footed shot that Gomes got fingertips to to turn wide.

He went even better on 58 minutes as he levelled things up.

It was a gift of a goal, with Gomes coming and flapping at an inswinging corner he had no need to charge out for. The ball dropped to Redmond who was totally unmarked and showed excellent technique to volley home from ten yards out.

Adlene Guedioura was the first player in the book for a late challenge on Steven Davis.

Saints were suddenly rampant and came close to taking the lead as Maya Yoshida headed just over from Davis’ deep left wing free kick.

Watford made their first change on 64 minutes with Ben Watson replacing Valon Behrami.

They followed that up nine minutes later as Juan Camilo Zuniga came on for Guedioura.

The game took a dramatic twist on 76 minutes as Watford were reduced to ten men.

It was Watson the man to go just 12 minutes after he was brought on as a sub.

It all stemmed from a Watford corner with Saints quickly counter attacking. Hojbjerg played a terrific ball into the path of the on running Long who was outsprinting Watson as the last man.

The Watford midfielder decided to pull him back and Roger East had no hesitation in producing a completely justified red card.

Tadic tried his luck from the long range free kick but Gomes pushed it back out.

Both sides reacted to a huge moment in the game by making changes with Jeremy Pied replacing Cedric for Saints while Ikechi Anya came on for Odion Ighalo as they prepared to defend for a point.

Puel threw on Charlie Austin for the last seven minutes in place of Long.

Redmond thought he had scored what surely would have been the winner on 86 minutes with a fantastic finish, lifting the ball past Gomes, but he was correctly flagged offside.

Austin was the next to come close with a header but it went wide before Pied fired back across goal but off target as Saints were forced to accept a point from their opening day game.