Football: BEN HURT; Fos flops.. and then puts the blame on his niece CHEER UP FOLKS, SCUNNY ISN'T SUCH A BAD PLACE.

Byline: By NEIL McLEMAN

Watford 1

Man City 1

BEN FOSTER will ban his 11-year-old niece from Old Trafford next season after the unlucky mascot witnessed the worst blunder of the England goalkeeper's career.

The on-loan No.1's self-confessed "howler" finally condemned Watford to a return to the Championship after a season of toil among the big boys.

Foster, who botched a clearance to the feet of Darius Vassell to set up Manchester City's goal, is the only Hornets player certain to be in the Premiership next season when he returns to fight for a first-team place at Manchester United.

But mascot Stephanie is set to see no more top-flight football than the rest of the fans at Vicarage Road next season after her uncle reckoned she jinxed him into making the mistake.

"It's the first time she has been a mascot for me and I think she is bad luck," said Foster, 24. "She is not doing that again. I will have to ban her from Old Trafford next season. And she had better not say anything about the mistake or she will get a clip around the ear."

It has been an eventful couple of months for Foster, not only because he has played behind the second-worst defence in the division (only West Ham have conceded more goals).

In February he made his full England debut against Spain, then last month he had the embarrassment of being beaten by an 80-yard free-kick by Spurs keeper Paul Robinson. But he insisted his latest character-building experience in a game Watford had to win will make him a better keeper as he continues his audition for the Man United No.1 shirt.

"The Spurs one was a freak but today was an absolute howler," he admitted. "It was 100 per cent down to me and definitely the worst mistake of my career so far.

"It was an awful mistake. I just tried to pass it out to Chris Powell because I saw him peel off and I just haven't caught it right. The pitch isn't particularly great and I have got to learn that if it happens again, I should just put my foot through it and welly it up the pitch."

Foster is backing Watford to come straight back up to the Premier next season.

"The team we have now is definitely stronger than the one which got promoted last season," Foster said. "If we can play next season in the way we have played this season, we will come up with no problems."

Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd insisted the rest of his squad will be staying at Vicarage Road as Watford aim for a quick return to the Premiership.

But this drab draw illustrated why they have won only four games this season - they lack the class to turn effort into achievement.

Even a team like Manchester City have a spine of Premiership class running through their side with Richard Dunne, Sylvain Distin, Didier Hamann and Vassell all proven campaigners.

Cameos of Watford skill, such as Douglas Rinaldi setting up sub Tamas Priskin for the 75th-minute equaliser, have been all too rare for a team simply out of their depth.

Marlon King, out since October with a knee injury, offered a glimpse of what might have been this season - and raised the question of whether he will still be at Vicarage Road next term.

"I now need to keep going until the end of the season, get my fitness back and see what happens," he said. "The speculation about me is flattering but I'm contracted to Watford for the next two years."

Boothroyd will stay despite being the first manager to be relegated in a season where Iain Dowie, Les Reed, Alan Pardew and Chris Coleman all lost their jobs.

"I think people know that I am genuine and doing the best I can and that the players are doing their best," said Boothroyd, whose name was chanted by the Watford fans as the teams left the field.

"Whatever your level of talent, if you give 100 per cent the man in the street will accept that.

"I am very ambitious but at the same time you have to suffer some adversity. If we had done what Reading have done I would have been a nightmare to live with.

My head would not have got through the door. So perhaps it is a good thing for everybody concerned."

REMAINING GAMES

WATFORD: Sheffield Utd (a) April 28th, Reading (a) May 5th, Newcastle (h) 13th.

MANCHESTER CITY: Aston Villa (h) April 28th, Manchester United (h) May 5th, Tottenham (a) 13th.

54% POSSESSION 46%

1 SHOTS ON TARGET 1

5 SHOTS OFF TARGET 4

5 OFFSIDES 5

5 CORNERS 3

10 FOULS 6

1 YELLOW CARDS 1

0 RED CARDS 0

ATTENDANCE: 18,537

MAN OF THE MATCH: Distin

TEAMS AND RATINGS

WATFORD: Foster 6, Doyley 6, Carlisle 7, DeMerit 7, Powell 7, Bangura 6, Mahon 5, Francis 4 (Kabba 24, 3) (Priskin 65, 7), Bouazza, King, Rinaldi (Shittu 82).

MAN CITY: Isaksson 5, Onuoha 6, Dunne 7, Distin 8, Ball 7, Jihai 7 (Ireland 85), Hamann 7, Barton 7, Johnson 6, Beasley 4 (Miller 35, 4) (Samaras 76) Vassell 7.

Referee: ROB STYLES

CAPTION(S):

VASS THE WAY: Darius Vassell celebrates his goal with Sun Jihai; LLOYD'S BLANK: Watford's Lloyd Doyley shows his frustration