Queens Park Rangers 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday: Owls boost survival chances

Djeidi Gassama came off the bench to score for Sheffield Wednesday

Goals from substitutes Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba gave Sheffield Wednesday a huge victory at Queens Park Rangers in their fight for Championship survival.

Isaac Hayden's attempted clearance cannoned into his own net off former Paris St-Germain player Gassama to give the Owls the lead.

Gassama then turned provider as he teed up Musaba to smash beyond Asmir Begovic.

Lucas Andersen struck an effort against the crossbar but QPR could not find a way past James Beadle at Loftus Road.

Wednesday are now just a point behind 21st-placed Huddersfield, while QPR remain in danger four points above the drop zone.

A Hoops win would have almost guaranteed them Championship football next season, but the Owls scored late to take all three points, just as they did when the two sides met at Hillsborough earlier in the season.

Chris Willock and Sinclair Armstrong had early shots for the home side but were unable to trouble Beadle in the Wednesday goal.

The lively Ian Poveda then whipped a cross across the QPR box to Josh Windass in a great position but he could not divert the ball in.

Poveda went off injured and was replaced by Gassama before the break, and he almost had an instant impact as he got in behind the Hoops defence before firing wide.

There was more than a slice of fortune about how Wednesday took the lead, as Gassama danced between defenders and got to the byeline before crossing into the box.

Hayden's clearance was straight at Gassama and bounced off him and into the net.

QPR were almost level within minutes as Danish midfielder Andersen sent a shot crashing against the crossbar with Beadle beaten.

Armstrong headed over late on as the Hoops chased an equaliser.

But Musaba's clinical finish in the sixth minute of added time rounded off a perfect afternoon for the visitors.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"I saw a big reaction from my team. I wanted to see a team who is fighting for this club, not thinking too much about the future.

"Some players showed in the past they're not ready for this fight, today I saw a team who was.

"We changed the shape and I changed five players.

"Gassama showed how important he can be when he fights like this, it was great."

QPR boss Marti Cifuentes told BBC Radio London:

"It's a disappointing day and of course I'm responsible for the performances of my team, today we didn't deliver the performance that we wanted.

"Perhaps overall we had more clear-cut chances than them but they put the two in and in the end that's what matters in football.

"The first 60/70 minutes were not good at all, perhaps we needed to concede that goal to wake up and understand how important was this game.

"Everybody understands that unfortunately 46 points will not be enough [to stay up] and the reality is that there's still a lot of games to be played and we need to make sure we perform well."