Coming between games in New Zealand and Germany, Alan Pardew turned to his shadow squad to face Championship opponents. And although that gave his side an unfamiliar look and made for a disjointed display, the travelling support at Hillsborough witnessed a fine first goal for Ayoze Perez.

24 hours after turning 21, the Spanish forward rounded off what was by far the best move of the night after 65 minutes, scoring the only goal of the game after Rob Elliot's quick throw and Gabriel Obertan's upfield run created the chance. 

Excluded from the senior squad for the opening trio of pre-season kickabouts, the much-maligned French wide player found the insubstantial tackles of the home side and the acres of space he was afforded to his liking - providing the main supply route for our forward threat.

A fine night in South Yorkshire saw the Magpies again clad in the grey kit, wearing black armbands in memory of ex-manager Sir Bobby Robson, a day before the fifth anniversary of his passing. 

The first chance worthy of note for the visitors came on 24 minutes, when a dinked pass from Perez dropped into the path of  Emmanuel Riviere - although he couldn't get enough on his shot to trouble goalkeeper Chris Kirkland.

Amid gathering gloom, the floodlights were switched on after 26 minutes, illuminating Wednesday's path to goal with Gary Madine's effort tipped on to the crossbar by Elliot from a free kick before a linesman's flag was raised.

United then had a let off after 37 minutes, when Paul Dummett's stumble allowed Sam Hutchinson to shoot against the underside of the crossbar from seven yards. The former Chelsea player claimed that his effort bounced down behind the line, but without the benefit of goal line technology his pleas were ignored by the match officials.

Adam Armstrong shot wide early in the second half as United attacked the away end and Mehdi Abeid tried his luck with a low trundling effort, but the Premier League side looked unlikely scorers until Perez struck.

A succession of changes then did little to aid the Owls in their quest for an equaliser, but substitute Franck Betra almost did the trick when Remi Streete conceded a foul with thirteen minutes of normal time remaining.

The resultant free kick from the Wednesday left was only partly cleared and when played back in, the French-born teenager poked his first-time shot agonisingly wide. 

With two minutes remaining Obertan set up substitute Alex Gilliead,  who fired over. Had he marked his maiden senior outing by netting though, that would have given the final score a misleading look.