Danny Röhl expresses disappointment as ‘nasty’ Sheffield Wednesday are cut late by Watford

The outing showed more energy and continuity between the boxes, with big headed chances for Josh Windass and Jeff Hendrick misdirected as struggles in front of goal rolled on.

Wednesday were controversially stripped of a penalty midway through the second half after Jamal Lewis’ tackle on the lively Anthony Musaba was initially awarded as spot kick. After passionate protests from the Watford players and a conversation between referee and linesman, it was retrospectively overturned.

The nature of the performance offers encouragement, said Röhl, but serves as a bitter pill to swallow. The defeat leaves his side nine points shy of safety and extends their run of winless matches to 12.

“I am a little bit disappointed because we did everything on the pitch, we showed good signs,” he said. “We were nasty against them and it was very hard to beat us. We created good moments also offensively and had good organisation.

“In the end I think it was their first shot in the second half. It’s a pity. We had a good opportunity for the penalty but the ref took it back. In the end it was a good performance but without points you are disappointed.”

Röhl arrived to Wednesday last week and took training for the first time on Monday. Eight changes were made from the side caretaker boss Neil Thompson named in a goalless draw with Huddersfield Town before the two-week international break.

The German continued: “I said to the guys that we trained hard this week, we started a lot of good things, we will take the good things. We will prepare for the next match and take these forward.”

There is no time to dwell on the result for the Owls, with a long trip to old foes Plymouth Argyle laying in wait in midweek. It comes as another stop on a vital run of fixtures for the bottom-placed side, with the Pilgrims positioned just one place above the drop zone.