Goals from Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba handed Sheffield Wednesday a vital 2-0 victory at fellow strugglers QPR to boost their chances of staying in the Sky Bet Championship.
The win leaves second-from-bottom Wednesday just a point from Huddersfield in 21st.
QPR’s own relegation fears were eased by recent back-to-back wins but this result leaves them just four points ahead of Wednesday – a victory would have put them 10 clear of the Yorkshire side.
Wednesday would have gone ahead in the first half had Josh Windass not missed a sitter. The forward contrived to nudge the ball past the far post from a yard out after being set up by Ian Poveda.
The Owls suffered another setback when the lively Poveda, who had been causing Rangers problems, was taken off just before the half-hour mark after picking up what looked like a hamstring injury.
But Gassama, his replacement, was also a thorn in QPR’s side and scored the opening goal on 59 minutes.
Gassama weaved his way into the box, going past Sam Field with ease, and then had a touch of good fortune when Isaac Hayden’s attempted clearance cannoned off the Frenchman and into the net.
Lucas Andersen almost equalised when his fierce strike hit the bar but otherwise Rangers struggled to create clear-cut chances.
That prompted boss Marti Cifuentes to make a triple substitution, sending on Morgan Fox along with forwards Lyndon Dykes and Paul Smyth.
QPR still struggled to create opportunities but one did fall to Jimmy Dunne, who headed over from Chris Willock’s cross.
Dunne headed over again late on, this time at the far post from a cross by Ilias Chair, but Wednesday were generally comfortable and scored again in the final seconds to seal their win.
Gassama was again involved, this time darting down the left and finding Musaba, who blasted past goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Cifuentes and his Wednesday counterpart Danny Rohl have radically improved results since taking over this season at clubs heading towards relegation.
But the defeat leaves Rangers still looking anxiously over their shoulders and Wednesday very much in with a fighting chance of staying up.
