QPRSport

The lowdown on QPR 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2 – Rangers good home form brought to an end by play-off rivals

QPR suffered their first home defeat since the start of November courtesy of two second-half Sheffield Wednesday goals.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

THE LINE-UPS

QPR: Nardi, Dunne, Edwards, Fox, Paal, Varane (Colback 70), Morgan (Kolli 74), Field, Smyth, Frey (Lloyd 70), Chair (Saito 70). Subs not used: Walsh, Cook, Morrison, Ashby, Madsen

Sheffield Wednesday: Beadle, Valery, Bernard, Ihiekwe, Lowe, S Charles, Bannan (Palmer 90+4), Gassama (Otegbayo 90), Paterson, Windass, Lowe (Smith 66). Subs not used: P Charles, Ingelsson, Ugbo, Valentin, Johnson, Kobacki

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

A frustrated QPR side suffered their first league defeat of 2025 at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday, with Michael Smith and Callum Paterson earning victory for the visitors. Rangers started brightly but were unable to make the most of their early control of possession and territory. Kieran Morgan shot across the face of goal from the edge of the box, yet the visitors had the better chances before the interval with Paul Nardi saving well from both Josh Windass and Michael Ihiekwe.

The closest QPR came to scoring was a Kenneth Paal free-kick that struck the post on the hour mark, but the visitors were much improved after the interval and found the decisive goals. The first came when substitute Smith cleverly headed home via the post from a Barry Bannan pass, and Paterson made sure of the result late on when he applied a composed finish at the end of a breakaway.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Despite gruelling trips to Plymouth Argyle and Hull City earlier in the week, Marti Cifuentes opted to make just one change to his side from the one that won at the MKM Stadium on Tuesday night as Michael Frey replaced Rayan Kolli upfront.

Rangers were spritely in the early stages despite their testing week, controlling possession and pressing aggressively when they did lose the ball. However, their attacking players struggled to combine effectively throughout the game and it felt as though the final pass or cross into the box was never quite right.

Cifuentes opted not to make any early substitutions despite Wednesday growing into the game from the end of the first half. He did eventually make a triple change with 20 minutes to play but Smith struck moments later, and even the addition of an extra striker in Rayan Kolli did little to help QPR find any attacking rhythm.

STAR MAN

Morgan Fox. Has filled in well with centre-backs seemingly higher up the pecking order unavailable. Hardly put a foot wrong here either but may lose his place in the team going forward given Steve Cook and Liam Morrison were both back on the bench for this one.

BEST MOMENT

Ilias Chair’s pre-match announcement. Rangers have done good work in tying down youngsters Alfie Lloyd, Kieran Morgan and Rayan Kolli to new contracts in recent weeks but there are still a number of first team regulars who have less than 18 months left on their deals. Chair was one of those – until last night. The attacker has consistently been one of the club’s best players over recent seasons, and the pre-match announcement that he has penned a new long-term deal understandably lifted the mood ahead of kick-off.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

Rangers lack of attacking verve. QPR started the day as the second-lowest scorers in the top half of the Championship table, with their unlikely push for a top six spot driven by their defensive strength. Although forwards Michael Frey, Alfie Lloyd and Rayan Kolli have all shown their worth in the recent good run of form, none of them received the service they needed throughout the 90 minutes. The trio registered just one shot between them.

A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB

Cifuentes record against Danny Rohl. Since the Catalan arrived at Loftus Road last October, only two opposition managers have managed to beat him on more than one occasion. One of them is Middlesbrough’s Michael Carrick, who has won his two meetings with Cifuentes, and the other is Rohl with his three wins and one draw from four matches.

Only a scrambled stoppage-time equaliser earned Rangers a point at Hillsborough in September, and in the games between the sides last season Wednesday seemed to overpower QPR on their way to victory. That was perhaps not the case in this one, but Rohl will feel it was a deserved victory given the way his side grew into the game.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“It was difficult game to play with a lot of free-kicks and interruptions, it was difficult to pick up good momentum.

“We need to look at ourselves and make sure we attack better against a team that, as we expected, was very physical, very strong in duels.

“We started the game pretty well. Quite active on the right side with Kieran [Morgan] and [Paul] Smythy. We lacked this end product in a game where there were not many chances for either side.

“We didn’t create enough chances to put real pressure. In the second half we had a lot of expectations about the bench impact in a difficult game to jump in.

“The first goal was a big game changer. We had the crossbar situation with Ken. We knew in a game like this when there is not a lot of chances and a lot of interruptions and every time we could beat our man there was a free kick. It was not easy for us to be more fluid.”

PICTURES: ROB AVIS

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