Burnley missed a golden opportunity to pull themselves off the foot of the Premier League table as they played out a stalemate with fellow strugglers Watford.
It was a cold, wet and windy day in East Lancashire and this clash between two relegation contenders was symptomatic of that grim weather. Entertainment was in short supply.
Perhaps that's how Roy Hodgson would have wanted it. The 74-year-old is a pragmatist at heart and he would have put his first match as Watford manager in the must-not-lose variety. He will have been pleased with a point and a clean sheet - the first one for the Hornets this season.
Story of the match
Dale Stephens replaced the suspended Josh Brownhill as one of three Burnley changes as manager Sean Dyche shuffled his pack. Maxwel Cornet - back from AFCON - came in for the injured Matej Vydra while Wout Weghorst made his debut in place of Jay Rodriguez.
Hodgson made four changes from Watford's 3-0 loss to Norwich City. Ben Foster, Ken Sema, Craig Cathcart and Juraj Kucka took the places of Daniel Bachmann, Tom Cleverley, Christian Kabasele and, their suspended leading goal-scorer, Emmanuel Dennis.
The Clarets made the brighter start and Dwight McNeil fizzed a 25-yard effort wide in the opening stages.
On 11 minutes, Cornet latched onto a flick on from Weghorst, forcing Foster into a smart save at his near post.
Burnley continued to be purposeful, particularly down the right with Connor Roberts, however, it was Watford who then nearly took the lead against the run of play.
Joao Pedro twisted and turned his way into a great position in the box, only to be denied at the vital moment by a great James Tarkowski tackle.
Back came Burnley with more pressure in the attacking third. Weghorst was tackled as he looked to pull the trigger in the box and Craig Cathcart flicked Aaron Lennon's whipped delivery away from the head of the 6' 6" forward.
Still, Watford were looking a threat on the counter and they created another presentable situation for themselves.
Kucka burst past several Burnley challenges but his excellent drilled delivery across the six-yard box was missed by Josh King, who just needed to make a decent connection.
King found himself in another good position shortly after, latching onto Hassan Kamara's clever ball in-behind Tarkowski, but Pope did well to block his tight-angled shot.
From the resulting corner, Pedro's flick on looked to have fallen kindly for King but Lennon was on-hand to deny a certain goal. For all their good play, the Burnley goal was starting to live a charmed life!
On the stroke of half-time, Sema - and several Watford players - went crazy at referee Craig Pawson after Sema's cross hit the hand of Roberts. You have certainly seen them given but, on this occasion, VAR decided not to intervene. A lucky break for the hosts.
Burnley stormed out of the blocks in the second-half and Kamara had to make a vital goal-saving block after Weghorst spun in on goal. The ball looped over Foster and onto the crossbar before Watford got back into shape and managed to clear.
At the other end, Ben Mee was marking his 10 year anniversary with the Clarets but his slack pass back to Tarkowski almost dampened his day. Thankfully for him, Pedro and King made a mess of the appetising counter-attack.
Minutes later, Kucka picked out Pedro with a brilliant curling delivery from the flank but the unmarked Hornet could only send his header straight into the midriff of Pope. The best chance of the game for either team.
Just after the hour, Dyche brought Rodriguez on for Lennon, shifting Cornet onto the left. But - within seconds of that call - Pedro found himself behind the Burnley defence again, though his weak effort was easily packaged by Pope.
Watford kept pushing and Mee almost diverted a corner into his own goal as he desperately tried to clear the danger. The visitors made a mess of that following corner, however, and Tarkowski broke with purpose. He shifted the ball to Weghorst but the striker fluffed his finish from the edge of the box.
Both teams prefer playing on the counter and Burnley again caught Watford napping as they pushed bodies forward.
Rodriguez found Cornet with an excellent cross-field pass and the talismanic figure forced Foster into a diving save with a 20-yard drive. Ashley Westwood drove the ball back in but nobody could make a meaningful connection.
The Rodriguez change did add a bit of dynamism to the Burnley attack and the substitute almost broke the deadlock himself, glancing Roberts' fast-paced cross narrowly wide of the far corner.
Hodgson brought Cleverley on for the ineffective Edo Kayembe and the former Manchester United man stung Pope's gloves with a fizzing effort from distance.
The point doesn't do much good for either team but it does provide a bit of respite to the frequency of losses that fans of Watford have become accustomed to seeing of late.
Burnley will see it as another point on the board but the club - with just one win all season - are now entering the last chance saloon with relation to their survival hopes. It's looking about as bleak as the weather!