Sheffield Wednesday 1 Watford 4: Absence of Gray no excuse as Owls are punished

The Owls, looking to notch their fifth successive home win, were punished by some sharp finishing by a Watford side who were 4-0 up after just 51 minutes.

It was too much for some home fans in the 22,057 crowd who headed for the exits and missed Afobe’s consolation header.

They probably wished they had followed Gray’s example – the Owls head coach was attending his son’s wedding – and avoided the game altogether.

But Arsenal loanee Afobe rubbished any theories that Wednesday’s below-par display was linked to Gray’s absence, and praised coaches Lee Bullen and John Deehan, who took over pitch-side duties.

“The manager wasn’t here, but we prepared exactly as we normally do,” said the 21-year-old.

“Bully and Dixie have taken the side, and spoke to us exactly the same as the manager does.

“It’s unfortunate we have lost when the manager wasn’t here, and people might question if we were committed and mentally right. I think we were.

“Everything was done exactly the same, but we have lost the game, and that’s disappointing.”

Former Norwich City manager Deehan also dismissing Gray’s absence played a part in the defeat.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “The preparation was exactly the same as always.

“Stuart coached the team, he selected the team, nothing changed in that respect.

“We lost out to a better team on the day,” added Deehan, with the Owls making just one change – Afobe in for injured midfielder Sam Hutchinson – from the team which beat Brighton in midweek.

Where the Hornets were better than Wednesday was in front of goal. The Owls had 19 efforts on goal, plus 13 corners to Watford’s one, yet failed to severely test Afobe’s former Arsenal colleague Manuel Almunia.

In Lewis McGugan and Troy Deeney, Watford had a dangerous strike force and a counter-attacking game which prospered on the wide open spaces at Hillsborough as they repeated last season’s 4-1 scoreline in S6.

McGugan’s header after just five minutes was blocked by Owls goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, but Gabriele Angella was lurking to score from close range.

Afobe, Liam Palmer and Chris Maguire all had chances to get the hosts back in the game before a classic counter-attack punished Wednesday.

Daniel Pudil raced onto Deeney’s flick and picked out McGugan, who evaded Owls’ back-pedalling defence to head home with ease.

“It was disappointing,” said Afobe. “We had a very slow start, the first 20 minutes, defensively we weren’t very tight.

“Once they scored two goals, our heads dropped a bit. We spoke about it at half-time and knew what we had to do. If we could score the next goal, it could all change.

“But they got the third goal and it was game, set and match.”

In fact, Deeney netted twice in as many minutes to kill the contest. First, he broke the offside trap before cheekily tapping the ball beyond an out-rushing Kirkland.

Then when Mathias Ranegie’s shot hit a post, Deeney was first to react to net Watford’s fourth.

Afobe added: “It was a very open game, we both have good attacking players. We had a few half-chances, I had one, Palmer had one, when it was 1-0.

“Maybe if they had gone in it could have been a different story. Unfortunately, we didn’t put them away.

“They have counter-attacked four times and scored four goals.

“It was nice to get a goal, but I would have preferred a win. It was my first goal at Hillsborough, but it was only a consolation, so it hasn’t really meant much.”

The openness of the game was maybe linked to both teams having little to play for, apart from pride, with both starting the game in mid-table.

It could easily have finished 5-5, and while defeat was a bitter pill for the Owls, it was harsh, too, on Afobe, who was making his first start since their previous Hillsborough loss – the 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Charlton Athletic.

Now the striker is hoping he did enough to retain his spot, once Gray has watched a DVD of Saturday’s game, for Friday night’s televised trip to league leaders Leicester City.

“I started the first three or four games and did okay I think, but against Charlton I had a poor performance and it’s been hard to try and get back in the team,” he admitted.

“I had my chance (on Saturday) and, personally, I think I did alright. But we have lost the game, so it’s a bit of a downer and I am just looking forward to the game against Leicester.

“I am not the first footballer to be dropped and been frustrated that they are on the bench. We have been doing really well, and I have been coming on as a substitute and doing well, so I haven’t been as disappointed.

“As an attacker, you know you’re likely to come on from the bench to try to change the game if we’re losing, or carry on winning if the team is already in front.

“(On Saturday) I got my chance, unfortunately we lost, but I tried my best and I think I worked hard. We will just have to see on Friday if I am playing or not. Leicester will be a tough game, it looks like they are going to be champions. But before I came here, Wednesday beat them 2-1 at Hillsborough, so they are beatable.

“We just have to work hard this week, put things right, and make sure the same mistakes against Watford don’t happen against Leicester on television.”

Asked whether his long-term future could be at Hillsborough, Afobe replied: “I have got another year on my contract at Arsenal, so we will wait and see.

“At the moment, I am just concentrating on the next seven games at Sheffield Wednesday and taking us as high as possible in the league.”