HORNETS HOME WIN LONG OVER-JOAO

JOAO PEDRO ended Watford’s 255-day famine without a home win to launch the Rob Edwards era in style.

Since November 20 last year – the day they put paid to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign at Manchester United – the Hornets had invented umpteen ways to lose in front of their own fans.

But Pedro (left), the boy from Brazil whose sublime promise has often outweighed his end product, came up trumps with a winner as stylish as it was overdue. And for a team who were so hopeless at home on former England manager Roy Hodgson’s watch, the Hornets’ opening endeavours under Edwards were promising enough.

In the first half Pedro should have done better with a close-range header from Ken Sema’s cross but the Blades, whose manager Paul Heckingbottom whipped up visiting supporters into a frenzy before kick-off, also had their moments.

Iliman Ndiaye shot weakly at Daniel Bachmann after bursting into the box but on the stroke of half-time it required the Austrian keeper’s thrilling fingertip intervention to deny the Blades livewire.

But an entertaining game deserved a goal and it was Watford who broke through 11 minutes after the interval in majestic style – but with a whiff of controversy. Referee

Josh Smith appeared to impede Blades midfielder John Fleck as he was lining up a shot from 25 yards and when the Hornets broke upfield rapidly, Pedro swept Ismaila Sarr’s low cross beyond Wes Foderingham from 10 yards.

Heckingbottom was booked for registering his protest too vociferously and he responded by using all five substitutes in a bid to retrieve the deficit.

But, apart from John Egan’s header wide, they never looked like doing so.