Sheffield Wednesday were denied only their second league win of the season right at the death as Vivaldo Semedo's late equaliser earned Watford a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough.

Wednesday, already relegated, had looked set to end a 14-game losing run in all competitions - 13 in the Championship - when Jerry Yates headed them in front early in the second half.

Watford had dominated the opening period with several chances, but struggled to break through until the closing moments.

Substitute Semedo spared the Hornets' blushes when he scrambled home in the 90th minute, after Pierce Charles spilled a long-range effort, to rescue the ninth-placed side and deny the Owls a rare victory.

Before the match, recently appointed Watford boss Ed Still had described his side's 11-day break between matches - because of their early FA Cup exit - as like a "mini pre-season", giving him prolonged time to work with the squad and allowing players some time off.

That freshness told in the first half as they registered 10 shots to Wednesday's four and dominated possession.

Chances missed by striker Luca Kjerrumgaard and defender Saba Goglichidze - both on loan from Italian club Udinese - in the first 45 minutes were ultimately punished by the league's lowest scorers.

Yates' goal arrived in the 54th minute as a Sean Fusire cross from the right picked out the striker at the back post and he powered a header beyond Hornets keeper Egil Selvik to spark hopes of a long-awaited success.

Wednesday were minutes away from a welcome victory before Pierre Ekwah's long-range effort was not dealt with by Charles and substitute Semedo reacted quickest in a crowded box to turn in the loose ball.

It tarnished a significant night for Owls captain Liam Palmer, who became only the fourth player to make 500 appearances for the club.

Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"I'm very, very proud of the performance and I'm also happy to get a point, but I think it's maybe one of the closest performances and closest games we have had to get three points.

"So on one side I'm very, very happy with the performance, proud of the performance, and then it's of course a little bit sad that they get an offside goal to draw 1-1, but most of all I'm proud.

"I think we were difficult to play against tonight."

Watford head coach Ed Still told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"Really disappointed. Strange game. We've created some fantastic opportunities there in the first half, which we've been doing well in the previous games to take.

"We've gotten ahead in games early previously and again, we started really well. We've come up there with what felt like four or five really big chances in the first half and we didn't take them.

"Then the injury to [Jeremy] Petris kind of put a halt to the positive flow that we had going. And again, it's disappointing, it's really unlucky to get that injury, but you've got to reshuffle.

"We didn't have [Jeremy] Ngakia with us and so we've got to reshuffle a little bit, find a different balance. Then we've come out in the second half and we haven't been stable enough in that second-half performance just to keep pushing and we've kind of opened up maybe a little bit too much and we've given away a few huge chances to them."