Watford 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday: Tom Lees own goal costs Owls at Vicarage Road

A controversial early own goal from Tom Lees gave second-placed Watford a 1-0 win at home to struggling Sheffield Wednesday.

The three points extended the Hornets' winning run to six in a row and 10 from their last 11 matches as Xisco Munoz's side boosted their automatic promotion chances.

Time is running out for Wednesday at the other end of the table, however, with the Owls having to battle on in Hertfordshire without manager Darren Moore after he tested positive for Covid-19.

The game ended up being decided in the seventh minute through an own goal that was hotly disputed.

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Ismaila Sarr crossed from the right hoping to find Isaac Success but instead saw the ball turned into the Wednesday net by Owls centre-back Lees.

A raised flag indicating Success had been offside saw the goal initially disallowed but referee Chris Kavanagh consulted with assistant Dan Cook and ruled the Watford man had not been interfering with play.

Lees, who had forced his own goalkeeper, Joe Wildsmith, into a save in a similar situation three minutes earlier, argued that he would not have played the ball had Success not been hovering but his protests were ignored.

Osaze Urhoghide headed over from a corner that reached the near post as Wednesday sought a way back into the game.

Josh Windass, played in on the left of the Watford box by Barry Bannan, was foiled by Hornets 'keeper Daniel Bachmann's brave dive at his feet in the 25th minute.

Wednesday continued to create chances with Julian Borner firing wide after Watford failed to clear the free-kick that resulted from Francisco Sierralta's yellow card challenge on Jordan Rhodes.

Success should have doubled Watford's lead on the half-hour mark but scuffed wide from yet another Sarr delivery.

Urhoghide was booked for barging Philip Zinckernagel over just before the Dane reached the box. Zinckernagel took the free-kick himself but could not beat Wildsmith.

Adam Reach was booked in the 42nd minute for impeding Sarr, with Watford again going close through Joao Pedro's low shot across goal after Success' header had given him a sight of goal.

Callum Paterson fired over for the Owls early in the second half but it was not long before Pedro blasted a shot that bounced off Wildsmith and Sarr curled narrowly over.

Rhodes had been waiting for a chance but could not hit the target in the 65th minute when a misplaced header from a defender landed at his feet on the edge of the six-yard box.

There was one further misfortune for Lees to endure when he limped off injured in the 85th minute.

What the managers said...

Watford's Xisco Munoz: "We have seven games more and we will see how many we need for our goal. I promise you we are very ambitious. Everyone wants the best. We are working very hard. We will see, but we are working hard to cut out the mistakes. We try to give the best for our club.

"The first objective is to try to get in the play-offs, the second objective is to try to take second position. And if it is possible, because we are working very hard, we will try to arrive at the top. We will take it step by step, we are not guaranteed the play-offs so we cannot think about another thing. But I promise you that we are very ambitious, the team is very ambitious and everyone wants the best. Everyone is working very hard on the training ground to give their best. We will see but I promise you, we will try to give the best for our club."

Sheffield Wednesday's assistant manager Jamie Smith: "[Moore] is okay. He was watching the game and was in contact with the analysts over the phone. I don't know how long I'll be in charge. We'll know more in the next couple of days.

"The first pass into Sarr looks offside. And if he (Success) wasn't there then Leesy wouldn't have gone for it. If he doesn't go for the guy taps it in and he's offside. I'm disappointed for the players. I felt we had done enough to get something but it's good that we created opportunities. There were positives to take from the game and we will continue fighting for every single point. We'll learn from it and move on."

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