• Story of the game

Garry Monk made four changes to the side which lost 3-1 to Preston North End in midweek and the fresh legs of those coming into the side seemed to have an instant impact.

With just three minutes gone, Josh Windass’ free kick was parried back into the danger zone by Joe Lumley. From the rebound Massimo Luongo struck on the half volley which cannoned back off the post, Iorfa was then on hand to place home at the third attempt.

While the R’s had plenty of possession, Wednesday created the chances and could have doubled their lead on the half hour mark when De Cruz found space down the right, but his pass too was delayed long for Windass and Moses Odubajo.

The visitors had more chances to come, Tom Lees ballooned a free header over the bar and Windass had an effort blocked in quick succession. 

As the game ticked into first half added time, Odubajo played a great ball down the line to De Cruz, he cut back to leave Windass with what looked like an open goal, but Osman Kakay blocked superbly on the line.

Windass quickly made amends as from the resulting corner he glanced his header into the back of the net at the back post.

After the interval Wednesday continued to create the best chances without having the lion’s share of possession Windass was put through on goal by substitute Murphy twice. 

He blazed his first effort over the crossbar and was denied the second by the strong hand of Lumley when the Wigan Athletic loanee tried to round the ‘keeper.

It took Mark Warburton’s side 75 minutes of the contest to muster their first attempt on target. The chance was created down the right and Aramide Oteh threw himself at the cross but Odubajo had done enough to supress his effort and the ball fell into the grasp ofJoe Wildsmith.

Two minutes later and Jacob Murphy finished things off and notched his seventh goal of the campaign in spectacular fashion as he curled his 20-yard-effort into the top corner to make it 3-0 to The Owls.

 

  • Takeaways from the game

 

Windass back with a bang

The forward made an instant impression in his first start since March having being side-lined with a Hamstring injury for the previous few weeks. Throughout the game he hung on the shoulder of defenders and used his speed to cause problem after problem for the Rangers defence. Despite bagging his third goal in just six appearances for Wednesday, it was the chances he passed up that he will regret.

He had a great opportunity just before he got his goal and was one on one with Lumley twice in the second half. Windass needs to improve that clinical edge but that will come with more game time and he could be someone Wednesdayites see a lot more of at Hillsborough if the club can come to an agreement with Wigan, who are desperate for financial stability.

Where to go now for Warburton

It was an abysmal performance from the hosts who had 74.3% of possession but only mustered one shot on target which indeed came in the 75thminute. Not once did Joe Wildsmith have to break sweat in the Wednesday goal. While they had plenty of possession, they failed to do anything with it.

They completed a staggering 549 passes compared to just 146 for the visitors but in the final third they only completed 82 to Wednesday’s 58. It cannot even be said that Monk’s side were just clinical in front of goal, they were far from it and could have come away with seven or eight goals on another day. Warburton needs to change things and quickly as his side now have just one win in their last six.

Owls keep a clean sheet

Not only did the victors head back North with a second win at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium this season, they left with a clean sheet which will be a welcome bonus for Joe Wildsmith and the Wednesday back three who looked a lot more solid than what they have in their last three outings where they shipped eight goals. Tom Lees returned to the side and provided more defensive backbone. This was the first clean sheet since February, and they will be looking to build on that against struggling Huddersfield Town on Tuesday evening.

 

  • Man Of The Match: Dom Iorfa

Iorfa was always going to be a key man today in nullifying the threat of wonderkid Eberchi Eze. He did that and more, he marshalled the backline, made important challenges and even popped up on the scoresheet in the opening 3 minutes with a cool, calm and composed finish. An all-round excellent performance.

 

  • View from the dugouts

Garry Monk told the club’s media: “We have to be very pleased with that performance and result. It was the complete performance. We needed a response from the last three and we got a complete performance today.

“Today we had complete focus and concentration and delivered a performance to be proud of. We played with passion and heart and it shows they’ve got that in them. The players deserve a lot of praise for that today.”

Mark Warburton said to the media: “I can’t defend that, we were way below our desired level. We’re a young team and we looked like a team of boys against a team of men today.

“So I’m not going to be stupid and try and kid it, that was way below an unacceptable performance by QPR. We started okay, gave a soft, stupid free kick away had a poor reaction and from that moment I felt we were treading water a little bit.”

 

  • Up next for both

The Owls host Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night looking to build on this positive performance. Meanwhile, QPR will be hoping to right their wrongs when they travel to Kenilworth Rad to face a desperate Luton Town also on Tuesday night.