Watford fielded former captain Gavin Mahon and a trialist left back during tonight's 0-0 draw at Brentford.

Mahon, who left Watford in 2008 but has been training with the club all summer, came on as a second half sub in a trio of changes which saw left back Tom James go off.

Very little is known about James, who has been training at London Colney for the last week. It is believed he played for non-league side Stratford Town last season.

Watford made six changes to the side which lost 2-1 to AFC Wimbledon at the weekend as a number of players who lasted 90 minutes were rested.

Scott Loach was back in goal behind a defence which included, along with Martin Taylor, David Mirfin, Dale Bennett and James. Josh Walker joined Prince Buaben in the middle of the park and Matty Whichelow played behind Marvin Sordell in attack.

Before the game there was a minute's silence in memory of those who lost their lives in Norway. Brentford recently went on a pre-season trip to Norway and manager Uwe Rosler spent almost a decade in the country as a player and a manager.

Brentford were first to go close when Clayton Donaldson headed over from a Sam Saunders cross, although Watford then enjoyed a positive spell – with Marvin Sordell almost getting on the end of Craig Forsyth's low cross and Mark Yeates sending in a dangerous delivery after beating his man.

Brentford had former Watford goalkeeper Richard Lee between the sticks and it wasn't long before Josh Walker stung his palms with an effort from the edge of the area.

Sordell was next to test Lee as his low shot from 20 yards was comfortably held.

There was a sudden increase in tempo as both sides had attempts go narrowly wide.

Saunders free kick went over the wall but was just off target and then straight down the other end, Yeates' effort did not curl enough.

There was little to report on trialist James in the opening 25 minutes but he covered well to block a powerful Saunders effort which was heading goalwards midway through the half.

Neither side created anything for a while and when Donaldson finally did have a header towards goal from a short corner, it went yards wide.

Both goalkeepers needed to make stops before the break though as Loach held on to a low Saunders' strike and Lee needed to tip Sordell's effort wide.

It was one change apiece at half time as Adrian Mariappa replaced Taylor for Watford.

Whichelow did have the ball in the net in the seven minutes after the restart but the whistle for offside had been blown long before.

Both sides were pressing for a goal and had crosses or through balls which caused the opposition defence problems but to no avail.

The unattached Gavin Mahon, who has been training at London Colney all summer, came on for Watford in a triple subsitution, three years after he left the club. Walker made way, as did James and Whichelow, with Adam Thompson and Troy Deeney also coming on.

Donaldson was arguably Brentford's biggest threat and he headed wide just after the hour mark, again from a Saunders' free kick.

The visitors almost took the lead twice in five minutes though. First Deeney forced Lee into a good save with a close-range header and then Buaben found himself with the chance to shot after good work from Sordell, but the midfielder fired over.

But similar to the first half, the game went flat for a while. A sliced half volley from Mariappa, a mishit Craig Woodman cross and a wayward Jake Reeves effort were as close as either side came to the goal in the final 20 minutes.

Brentford: Lee; Logan; Legge (Eger 63), Osborne (Balkestein 72), Woodman; Saunders (Weston 63), Douglas (Bean 45), O'Connor (Reeves 73), McGinn (Oyeleke 84); MacDonald (Alexander 63), Donaldson (Wood 73).

Subs: Moore.

Watford: Loach; Bennett, Mirfin, Taylor (Mariappa 45), James (trialist) (Thompson 57); Yeates (Mingoia 71), Bauben (Jenkins 71), Walker (Mahon 57), Forsyth; Whichelow (Deeney 57), Sordell.

Subs: Gilmartin, Isaac.

Referee: Gavin Ward.