Queens Park Rangers missed an opportunity to go second in the EFL Championship with a goalless draw against Norwich City at Carrow Road.

Teemu Pukki went closest for Norwich in the first half, firing a shot across QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng, but seeing it come out off the post.

Chris Willock hit the post for the Hoops in the second half in a frustrating night for both sides.

QPR remain fourth, two points behind second-placed Blackburn while the Canaries are fifth, two points behind their visitors.

Story of the match

Dean Smith brought Todd Cantwell, Gabriel Sara and Sam Byram into the Norwich starting XI. Byram was making his 50th appearance in a Canaries shirt.

QPR boss Michael Beale was forced into three changes, bringing in Rob Dickie, Andre Dozzell and Luke Amos for the injured trio of Jake Clarke-Salter, Stefan Johansen and Tyler Roberts.

The first chance of the game fell to Norwich as Cantwell combined with Sam McCallum and he found Sara with a cut-back. His shot forced Dieng into a good save.

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On 12 minutes, Ethan Laird found Ilias Chair in space and he tried his luck from a tight angle, but Angus Gunn palmed the shot away.

A minute later, Sara's low cross from the right found Pukki, but an acrobatic save by Dieng kept the game scoreless.

Aaron Ramsey latched on to Byram's ball forward and he found Pukki but Dieng got a hand to his shot to put it over the crossbar.

Pukki nearly opened the scoring moments later, getting to Byram's pass and after getting past one defender, his first shot was blocked by Dickie and his second hit the inside of the post and came out.

In the 25th minute, Amos went wide and Chair had a similar result after having a go from distance.

Cantwell sprung to life after getting on a loose pass and feeding Pukki, who wasn't able to get a shot past a wall of Hoops defenders.

Two minutes from halftime, Tim Iroegbunam drove into the box and fired low into the bottom corner, but Gunn came up with a fine save, diving low to his right to push the ball away.

Eight minutes into the second half, Cantwell nearly opened the scoring, his looping effort forcing Dieng to tip it over the bar.

Just before the hour mark, Beale brought on Willock with Dozzell coming off.

The former Benfica man orchestrated a terrific sequence, finding space and shooting from 20 yards only to hit the post. Kenneth Paal got to the rebound and fed Dykes, who saw his header stopped by Gunn.

In the final ten minutes, QPR made a triple change, Albert Adomah, Olamide Shodipo and Macauley Bonne coming on for Chair, Amos and Dykes.

Substitute Marcelino Nunez caused chaos with a corner in the QPR area before a defender had to block his fierce strike that led to another corner.

Hernandez could have won it in the 88th minute, getting past the last defender before seeing Dieng save his shot with his body.

Grant Hanley thought he had won it for the Canaries as his volley hit the outside of the post as the spoils were shared.

Player of the match: Seny Dieng

He kept QPR in the game with a number of brilliant saves, bailing out a defence that allowed far too many chances.