Watford 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1: Nuhiu snatches title from Watford’s grasp

SHEFFIELD Wednesday denied Watford the Championship title with a stoppage-time equaliser at Vicarage Road.
Sheffield Wednesday's Atdhe Nuhiu equalises late on against Watford (Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire).Sheffield Wednesday's Atdhe Nuhiu equalises late on against Watford (Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire).
Sheffield Wednesday's Atdhe Nuhiu equalises late on against Watford (Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire).

The Hornets’ head coach Slavisa Jokanovic felt his side should have been awarded a penalty after 10 minutes when Troy Deeney went down under a challenge from Chris Kirkland, and he also believed Atdhe Nuhiu was offside prior to equalising.

Owls’ head coach Stuart Gray admitted his side were fortunate to still be in the game at half-time. He said: “It feels like a huge point because at half-time I just could not believe we were only 1-0 down. That was probably one of the worst 45 minutes we’ve had. We were so disappointing.

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“We gave them far too much respect, we stood off them, our passing was poor and then they created chance after chance.

“I said to them at half-time, ‘you know in this game of football, there’s 90-odd minutes to play’ and a few words were said and I got a response from the players, so the pleasing thing was we’ve taken a point.

“They might think we nicked a point, but I felt around the 60-minute mark we started coming on to our game.”

A first-half goal from Matej Vydra had put the Hornets on course to win the title, but their inability to add to their lead returned to haunt them when substitute Nuhiu equalised with the Owls’ only on-target attempt.

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Jokanovic said: “We made mistakes during the game but the referee didn’t give a penalty, it’s a clear penalty and inside the last second of the game Nuhiu was offside 100 per cent – I am sure of that.”

Watford: Gomes, Cathcart, Angella ,Connolly, Motta (Paredes 68), Layun, Watson, Abdi, Anya (Tozser 71), Deeney, Vydra (Ighalo 78). Unused substitutes: Munari, Forestieri, Bond, Hoban.

Sheffield Wednesday: Kirkland, Vermijl, Lees, Buxton, Helan, Lee (Isgrove 77), Semedo, Filipe Melo, Maguire, Keane (May 77), Lavery (Nuhiu 37). Unused substitutes: De Havilland, Bus, Wildsmith, Maghoma.

Referee: L Probert (Wiltshire).