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Watford 2 Sheffield Wednesday 2: MATCH REPORT AND SLIDESHOW
Watford 2 Beevers (45 og), McAnuff (56) Sheff Wed 2 Tudgay (20), Jeffers (90 pen)
COMIC relief came a day late at Vicarage Road.
Spectators were given a laugh by clangers that brought red faces to the players involved rather than red noses.
No-one was doing something funny for money, and the managers were not amused, but the teams were certainly charitable towards each other.
Keeper Scott Loach's fumbling of a Michael Gray corner was such a gift to Marcus Tudgay that he headed his 13th goal of the season almost apologetically.
Wednesday's 1,772 following was immensely delighted but Mark Beevers gave home fans a laugh with his astonishing own goal - and I know there were blue-and-and-white folk who could not suppress a smile.
It was one of the best ogs I have ever seen.
Brian Laws was so impressed with the finish that he stuck Beevers up front as a third striker for the last 10 minutes or so. Only joking, of course, but the defender really was sent forward because at that stage the Owls were in danger of losing, and it was time to gamble with a 3-4-3 formation.
The Owls were also a shade fortunate that the system was not a 10-man one from the87th minute, after Richard Wood avoided a red card for a tussle with centre forward Tamas Priskin.
I did not think it was a foul. It looked like six of one, half a dozen of the other as they sprinted shoulder-to-shoulder towards the Wednesday box and both went down.
But once referee Andy Woolmer had given a foul, it seemed certain that he was going to pull out the red card when his hand went to his pocket. Instead it was the yellow.
Brian Laws felt as if the Owls were being repaid for being ill-treated by officials in the Reading and Preston games.
"I think it was quite fortunate that he decided it was two players coming together rather than what they call a professional foul," said the Owls manager.
"That's why he probably only gave a yellow. I was expecting a red, as everyone else was, I think."
But Richard Hinds felt that the ref partly got it right. The sub defender thought there was no foul, and that he (Hinds) was close enough to have made an intervention if Priskin had not gone down, so that even if the official decided it WAS foul he was correct not to regard Wood's effort as the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.
That controversy was overshadowed by the award of a penalty for a foul on Jermaine Johnson.
Did Jon Harley, on the ground, make contact as the winger darted by him?
The ref waved play on, but the official's view may been partly obscured by Harley's body.
The linesman had a good view of both players and the ball from a different angle and signalled the penalty. TV evidence was inconclusive.
Laws naturally was happy to accept the linesman's verdict.
But Watford boss Brendan Rodgers said: "When you're in the sixth minute of injury time and the referee doesn't give a penalty, but his linesman does, then it doesn't seem very fair.
"And Tamas Priskin was through one on one. Anyone who's seen Tamas Priskin in the last six weeks will tell you that's a goal, but it's unbelievable.
"How the referee has produced a yellow I don't know. He wasn't very good."
Wednesday were unhappy about Watford's second goal. Sean McAllister had lost possession with a ball up the line and the resulting far-post cross found Jobi McAnuff jumping behind Tommy Spurr to head home.
The Owls claimed a push on the defender but there nothing obvious to see, even on the TV replay.
Beevers might have thought he had been nudged in the back by Priskin in the run-up to Watford's first goal as they chased back to towards the Wednesday area - but even that did not seem much of a defemce for such an emphatic own goal, volleyed into the bottom corner from around 23 yards.
Coming in first-half stoppage time, that equaliser soured a first half of comfortable control by Owls, who also saw a Spurr chip tipped over the bar by Loach.
They were organised in all areas and had Michael Gray excelling on the left side of midfield, though they also missed the poise in the centre of an unwell Darren Potter.
The second half was just a battle, not made any easier by the loss of Gray with a shoulder injury and Spurr with concussion. The gaps were filled with Luke Boden on the left side of midfield and Frankie Simek at right-back, with Lewis Buxtonswitched to the left.
Hinds' arrival was as a centre-half in a three-man backline with Wood and Buxton.
Wednesday were pushing men forward in the dying stages and it paid off when pressure brought the spot kick.
Francis Jeffers took the responsibility and calmly drove his shot into the bottom corner though the keeper dived the right way.
Wednesday had the last laugh.
Manager's view
We've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The first-half performance was excellent, dominating, comfortable; we were worth the 1-0 lead and never even looked like we were going to concede. Their one shot at goal unfortunately was the one that was on target. A mistake by Beevers changed the game. It gave them a lift.
In the second half we had to stay calm, but goals change games and their second goal was a classic push in the back at the far post, and the ref's not given it.
Then they had a good 20 minutes; they're all fired up, and the crowd are right behind them. It was such a scrappy second half.
That was our worst second-half performance I have seen.
It was a bit of fortune that we have got an equaliser. Was it a penalty? Like the ref, I thought 'no' at first,.
But the linesman gave it; he's seen the contact which maybe the ref didn't.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Fog
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
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