Hillsborough reaction: Carvalhal rues injuries as Owls battle back

Sam Winnall’s equaliser shortly after half-time earned the Owls their first point of the season after Jamie Mackie had put the away side in front midway through the first half.

Wednesday struggled to get going in the first half, losing key players Sam Hutchinson and Glenn Loovens to injury during the opening exchanges. Hutchinson was replaced by David Jones in the 13th minute, while Winnall was introduced in place of captain Loovens.

Carvalhal said: “It was a strange beginning. We miss two players and especially at the beginning of the season it created a negative impact to the team.

“The first half was divided. They scored one goal from their one chance and we had a few chances also. The second half was completely different. We started very well and this is our Sheffield Wednesday. We pressed Queens Park Rangers much more and moved the ball better.

“We started to create problems, we achieved the first goal, we nearly achieved the second goal with two clear situations, but after 30 minutes we decreased a little. This was where we needed extra energy from the bench, but we lost that opportunity.

“The Sheffield Wednesday in the second half was the Sheffield Wednesday of the past two seasons. In the second half I felt we deserved to win the game.”

Wednesday were in need of a result after a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Preston on the opening weekend, while Rangers were buoyed by an impressive 2-0 home win against Reading.

QPR started the stronger, and Mackie - played in by Luke Freeman - opened the scoring when he slotted the ball under Keiren Westwood on 23 minutes.

Ian Holloway felt his QPR side gave a good account of themselves and was disappointed to leave Hillsborough with just the one point.

He said: “By the end of the game, the little spell they had just after half-time, where we could have wobbled... they caught us with a punch and they could have maybe had another couple, but we came through that and gave a good account of ourselves in the end.

“Thankfully I don’t see Jordan Rhodes miss headers like that very often, luckily for me, but my team didn’t deserve to lose today.

“Did we do enough to win? Possibly not but that final ball on our breaks we had maybe 10 opportunities to put someone through and only one of them ended up being a clear chance.

“All I know is we’re improving, we’re learning and there were lots of bits I really liked. Obviously I’ll have to take one point instead of the three we wanted.”