Hooper’s finishing class lifts Carvalhal
CARLOS CARVALHAL’S Sheffield Wednesday rose to fifth in the Championship with a narrow victory at Hillsborough.
Gary Hooper netted the only goal with an instinctive striker’s finish five minutes before half-time that QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would have been proud of.
The first chance fell to Rangers as Cameron Dawson, replacing the injured Keiren Westwood in the Wednesday goal, scuffed his clearance straight to QPR top scorer Tjaronn Chery. The midfielder shot from 20 yards and forced a smart save.
Wednesday began knocking the ball around nicely and Fernando Forestieri had an 18-yard effort palmed away by Alex Smithies.
QPR’s Daniel Pudil, who scored an equaliser against Cardiff in midweek, came close again when his snapshot following a corner struck the woodwork.
But the breakthrough came as David Jones’ volley eluded the QPR defenders before falling to Hooper inside the penalty area and he guided it expertly home.
Rangers had a string of corners early in the second half and one fell to Nedum Onuoha whose shot drew a reflex save from Dawson.
QPR’s clearest chance fell to Chery in the dying seconds. With Dawson racing out, the Dutch star’s low shot was cleared off the line by Owls captain Tom Lees.
Carvalhal said: “My players have been unbelievable this week against three very difficult teams.
“I’m very happy about what my players did, it was special.
“It was good to score the goal but with Gary Hooper and Fernando Forestieri, it is not just a question of goals.
“The way that they press is very important and they did that well today.”
Hasselbaink said: “I think we deserved at least a point against a very good side.
“They didn’t work our keeper too much.”