Dion Pereira’s fortunate free-kick was not enough to secure a victory for Watford’s Under-23s as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Sheffield Wednesday.

Last season’s Young Player of the Year gave the Hornets the lead with just over half-an-hour played as his crossed set-piece eluded everyone and somehow found the net at the near post.

Wednesday came on strong after the break and were level midway through the second period when Conor Kirby reacted quickest to score after Frazer Preston’s strike had smashed the crossbar.

The result leaves Watford eighth in the Professional Development League South table and they will look to pick up a win against Crewe Alexandra next Monday.

Watford were slow to get going and were lucky not to be left chasing the game after sustained Wednesday pressure in the early exchanges.

Hayden Mullins’ men looked to be struggling to shake off the rust accumulated by not playing since March 5 due to games being called off by adverse weather conditions.

Indeed, the Owls hit the woodwork twice inside the first 30 minutes and were thankful to Nathan Gartside in goal for a number of smart saves to ensure parity remained intact.

Having failed to register a single shot before the half-hour, Watford finally offered a riposte to the Wednesday dominance when Pereira played in Michael Folivi.

The forward really should have opened the scoring against the run of play but couldn’t beat Dan Wallis from the one-on-one chance.

Wallis would not be as impressive soon after and gifted the home side the lead with a calamitous error from Pereira’s free-kick.

Looking for near-post runners, the 18-year-old whipped a low cross towards goal which nobody managed to get a touch on.

Wallis looked to have a simple task to claim the ball, but somehow allowed it to squirm through his legs and in for Pereira’s 10th this season.

The Golden Boys were scarcely worth their lead, but were sparked into life by the go-ahead goal and Pereira almost turned provider for a second before the break.

His corner found Dennon Lewis at the back post and his low shot drew the best from Wallis who did well to deny his effort and partially make up for his earlier error.

Half-time saw Ryan Cassidy, who signed his first professional deal with the club on Thursday come on, and he produced another promising display in attack.

The woodwork, which had been so kind to Watford in the first half, couldn’t save them in the second when Wednesday pulled level.

Watford looked to have once again got a lucky escape as Preston’s fierce drive beat Gartside and crashed back out off the bar.

The loose ball broke to Kirby, however, and he came through a scramble of players to lash in from close range at the second time of asking.

Both teams failed to raise their game in the wake of the equalising goal and the remainder of the match past with little incident.

Wednesday went closest to finding a winner through Preslev Borukov, but his header was saved in routine fashion by Gartside.

Watford: Gartside (GK); Eleftheriou, Rowan, Mukena, Rogers (Jones); Charles, Stewart; Sesay (Cassidy), Pereira (Ryan); Lewis, Folivi.

Subs not used: Howes (GK), Empson.