Sheffield Wednesday manager Stuart Gray believes Matej Vydra was “blatantly” offside for Watford’s opening goal this afternoon.

The Hornets took the lead after Vydra breached the Owls’ offside trap to set up Odion Ighalo and a mistake from the usually reliable Keiren Westwood handed the visitors a second goal soon after. 

Gray described Sam Hutchinson’s early departure through injury, the controversial offside decision for Ighalo’s goal and Westwood’s error as an unexpected trio of set-backs which affected his team in the first half.

Gray said: “I’ve seen it again and the boy (Vydra) is blatantly offside. As soon as it was played through I thought he (the assistant referee) would put the flag up and so did the 10,000 fans who appealed. So that was the second set-back and then unusually for us and Kieren Westwood, he made an error for the second goal.

"It is probably the only mistake he has made since he joined the club because he has been outstanding. It seems these things happen in threes.

“I said to the players at half-time that you are going get set-backs and there is 45 minutes to go. I thought we did ok in the second half and the goalkeeper (Heurelho Gomes) pulled off a couple of saves.

“But we have played one of the best teams in the Championship and they are set up to counter-attack. They have good players and they punish you. We have been punished today.”

“Watford can get 60 yards up the pitch very quickly with the pace they have in the team,” he added.

“Watford will be there or thereabouts [in the challenge for promotion]. They are probably the best team we have faced this season with the ball. They suck you in and even when defending corners, when they pull everybody back, they have players who can counter-attack.

“All the footage we have seen and the scouting reports [received] show that is the way they want to play and credit to them. They are a good footballing side.”

Gray believed his team deserved a goal in the second half and praised the performance of half-time substitute Royston Drenthe.

The Owls’ boss claimed the former Real Madrid winger should have received a “nailed on” penalty when he went down in the second half and received a booking for diving.

He also highlighted that Westwood had “a chunk” out his knee following a collision with Forestieri moments before the second goal. Gray said he was unsure if the Watford forward’s contact was malicious or if it had an impact on the goalkeeper’s error for the second goal.

Read a report from Watford's 3-0 win here.