Sheffield Wednesday 1 QPR 1: Frustration for Owls as Smithies foils them again at Hillsborough

After helping Huddersfield Town to seven points from his three previous visits to S6, the goalkeeper was at it again to earn QPR a hard-fought draw.

A second-half penalty save to deny Atdhe Nuhiu was the clear highlight of Smithies’s night but he was also able to look back with pride on several other saves on a night when the Owls were unable to make dominance of possession pay.

Nuhiu did later get on the scoresheet but it was only enough to earn Carlos Carvalhal’s men a point thanks to Daniel Tozser having earlier given the Londoners the lead.

It added up to a frustrating night for Wednesday, who did move up a place to fifth due to Derby County not being in action until tonight.

Birmingham City’s win over Bolton Wanderers, however, means the Yorkshire side’s advantage over the chasing pack has been cut to three points.

For Smithies, his return to Yorkshire was a personal triumph to go with the two victories and one draw he had earned at the Owls’ home when sporting Huddersfield colours.

In the first half, he had just one save of note to make. But it was a cracker, the Rangers goalkeeper – recently promoted to the starting XI by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – flinging himself to his right to palm away a Nuhiu shot.

The Wednesday striker had been played through by the vision of Aiden McGeady, who carved open the visitors’ back-line from inside his own half.

McGeady was then crowded out when trying to reach the rebound and the ball was put behind for a corner.

Considering the amount of possession the hosts had in the first half, there really should have been more for the former Huddersfield goalkeeper to do.

However, a combination of some resolute defending from the visitors and Wednesday not quite being at their sharpest when chances did come along meant Smithies got off lightly in the opening 45 minutes.

Perhaps the best example of this came on 12 minutes, when impressive link-up play between McGeady and Gary Hooper saw Daniel Pudil played in down the left.

The Czech Republic international then whipped in an inviting cross but Nuhiu was slow to respond and the ball was allowed to run across the face of goal.

It was a similarly frustrating tale in the early stages as Kieran Lee prodded over following good work down the Rangers’ left flank involving Barry Bannan and Jack Hunt.

Wednesday’s other moment of note in the first half came when Ross Wallace flashed a shot just wide and there was a tangible sense of frustration among the 19,233 crowd at half-time.

Those rumblings of discontent grew even louder two minutes after the restart when the home side blew a golden chance to take the lead.

A clumsy tackle on Hooper by Nedum Onuoha left referee Andy Davies with the simple task of pointing to the spot and the game seemed set for its first goal. But Smithies had other ideas, as he dived low to his left to keep out Nuhiu’s spot kick. It was a let-off for the visitors and one that they capitalised on within 10 minutes by taking a shock lead.

Tozser was the goalscorer with a crisp finish from the edge of the area, although Vincent Sasso’s weak clearance after Conor Washington had been crowded out was also a factor.

Wednesday, to their credit, responded in quick fashion, Nuhiu making amends for his earlier penalty miss by rising high above four defenders to power Pudil’s looping cross beyond a helpless Smithies.

That set up a frantic finale as chances came and went at both ends of the field. First, Washington looked to have wriggled clear for the visitors only to run the ball out of play.

Bannan then whipped in a wonderful cross for the Owls that was begging one of his team-mates to convert only for Grant Hall to clear.

A mistake by Sasso on halfway line created the next opening but, unlike with the night’s opener, the Frenchman got away with it thanks to Matty Phillips blazing wide from 15 yards.

Lee was the next to threaten for Wednesday following a sweeping move that saw Hooper released by Bannan before picking out his team-mate.

Again, though, Smithies proved his equal with a save that he then followed by beating Lucas Joao to a bouncing ball from the resulting corner.

Wednesday had a late shout for a penalty turned down by substitute referee Graham Salisbury when Lee took a tumble before that man Smithies was once again in the right place at the right time to hold on to a Joao header to ensure the Huddersfield-born goalkeeper enjoyed yet another visit to S6.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood; Hunt, Lees, Sasso, Pudil; Wallace, Lee, Bannan, McGeady (Joao 62); Nuhiu, Hooper. Unused substitutes: Price, Loovens, McGugan, Bennett, Helan, Lopez.

Queens Park Rangers: Smithies; Hall, Onuoha, Angella, Perch; Phillips, Luongo, Henry, Tozser; El Khayati (Mackie 79), Washington (Polter 73). Unused substitutes: Ingram, Chery, Hoilett, Diakite, Petrasso.

Referee: A Davies (Hampshire).