Sheffield Wednesday kicked of their 2013/14 Championship campaign with a narrow defeat away at title favourites Queens Park Rangers.
The Owls defended resolutely and counter attacked with pace in what may well be one of their toughest fixtures of the season. Had a couple of key decisions gone their way they might well have left the capital with a creditable draw or perhaps even more.
Wednesday started with 2 summer signings in the side, Kamil Zayatte was chosen to partner Anthony Gardner at the heart of the defence and tall striker Atdhe Nuhiu was chosen to lead the line supported by the pace of Michail Antonio, Jermaine Johnson and Jeremy Helan. Injuries to Reda Johnson and Lewis Buxton meant the Owls were depleted at the back with Liam Palmer and Joe Mattock occupying the full-back positions.
The hosts started brightly with Andy Johnson going close on two occasions – 1 strike deflected wide and one well saved by Kirkland. Wednesday gave notice that they weren't going to be dominated when Nuhiu poked an effort wide and on 18 minutes he marked his league debut in spectacular fashion. There seemed little on when he picked the ball up on the right 30 yards from goal but the rangy front man saw off the challenges of 3 Rangers defenders before picking his spot to beat Robert Green with a low drive from 20 yards.
Zamora was denied an equaliser when his close range effort was smothered by Kirkland but the game changed significantly in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Wednesday were forced into a reshuffle when Mattock picked up an injury and was replaced by debutant winger Maghoma with Helan reverting to full-back. Shortly after this Prutton picked out Antonio with a lovely pass into the area. The former Reading man was bearing down on goal when a clumsy challenge from behind by Traore sent him to the ground but agonisingly for Wednesday the referee saw no offence.
QPR then hit the Owls with two goals in quick succession in the last 5 minutes of the half. Wednesday reacted slowly to a short corner with resulted in defender Onouha tapping in the equaliser from close range and just 3 minutes later Kirkland denied Joey Barton a headed goal only to see the rebound fall to Andy Johnson who scored with a well controlled strike.
The visitors responded well at the start of the second half and should have been level within 5 minutes of the restart. Jermaine Johnson broke into the penalty area and squared for Antonio who only had the keeper to beat from 12 yards but fired his first time strike into the stand.
More controversy was to follow as Joey Barton received a booking for a foul on Helan and from the resulting free-kick Maghoma beat the QPR midfielder with a delightful turn 10 yards from goal. Barton clearly clipped Maghoma and although the Wednesday wingers fall was somewhat theatrical they were again denied what looked like a genuine penalty shout and to add salt to the wound Maghoma was booked for diving.
The lively winger continued to cause problems and after being picked out by Nuhiu on the angle of the penalty area he fired a sweet low drive that beat Green but rebounded to safety of the base of the post.
Wednesday threw on Madine in place of the tiring Nuhiu in the final 15 minutes but couldn't fashion an equaliser and at the other end Charlie Austin would have been disappointed with a headed effort that went wide when well placed.
Dave Jones' post match interviews revealed his frustration at the referee's performance and his views appeared to be supported by the QPR management team as they suggested that the Owls may have been hard done by.
Wednesday must put the disappointment of the result behind them and concentrate on plenty of positives from their performance against a well fancied team. The Owls face Rotherham away in the League Cup on Tuesday ahead of their first home game of the season against Burnley next Saturday.