Henrik Pedersen on why Sheffield Wednesday's first home point 'means a lot'
Henrik Pedersen says Sheffield Wednesday's first home point of the season will "mean a lot" as he praised his players for giving everything they had to get it.
The Owls were held 1-1 by Queens Park Rangers to end their sequence of having lost every Championship home game under Pedersen. Thanks to Dominic Iorfa's first-half header, they even scored their first goal at Hillsborough, only to be pegged back by a Nicholas Madsen penalty after the break.
That setback tested their resolve, but they held out for the draw.
"It means a lot because Hillsborough has to be a very difficult place to play for our opponent," said Pedersen, whose side had taken their only previous points away at Wrexham and Portsmouth.
"I think we made it very difficult for them today. Our first half was a very strong first half. I think defensively we were very solid.
"I think we showed some good steps forward when we were on the ball, so we could keep the ball better. We could also start to move the ball around and start to create something when we were on the ball.
"We created four or five good possibilities in the first half.
"We had a difficult beginning to the second half, but I think after 10, 12, 14 minutes we came strongly back into the game. And how we finished the game in the last 20, 25 minutes was also a strength mentally, that we could have a difficult phase, come back and finish the game like we did."
The Owls were applauded off by a crowd of 20,132 impressed with their efforts.
"They gave all that they could today, the boys. It has been a difficult beginning of the season at home, but today I think we played a really strong home game," said Pedersen, whose club were hit with three more transfer embargoes – taking their total to five – on Thursday and Friday.
Madsen's penalty came when Bailey Cadamarteri was adjudged to have handled at a QPR corner in the opening minutes of the second half.
"I think when it hits his hand the ref can always give a penalty," said Pedersen.
"I'm not sure he can move his hand, but we cannot change this.
"We have to remember that QPR have won the last three games, it's a good team, so we knew there would be a difficult period in this game but how we stayed in a situation that was difficult was good to see."
QPR manager Julien Stephan made a triple substitution at half-time and was pleased with the improvement it brought about.
"The start of the first half was not good enough in terms of intensity, quality," he said.
"I enjoyed the first 20-25 minutes of the second half. And at the end, the last 15 minutes, it was just a question of surviving."