Big Dom, those wingbacks, safe but not: Seven things we learned from Sheffield Wednesday’s emphatic win at QPR

Strikes from Dominic Iorfa, Josh Windass and Jacob Murphy secured a victory for the Owls against QPR as they mathematically – for now – booked their Championship status for next season, but it could have been more in a dominant display.

I took a look at some of the talking points…

Big Dom

Not only did Iorfa finish his goal with the finesse of a seasoned striker, but he once again put in a top performance at the heart of the Wednesday defence.

Playing on the right side of three centre backs, the 25-year-old looked assured and composed as he broke down numerous QPR plays – no player on the pitch completed more tackles, and he didn’t put a foot wrong all game.

He was already a front-runner for the Owls Player of the Season award in my eyes, but after Steven Fletcher and Morgan Fox’s exits and his form since the restart, he’s now – in my opinion – the clear choice.

Safe, but not…

As of yesterday’s win in the capital, Wednesday are now 10 points clear of the relegation zone with just nine points left to play for – that should leave them calm and assured of their spot in the Championship for 2020/21.

But alas…

With so much uncertainty regarding the ongoing case against the English Football League, Garry Monk and his troops have no idea how many points they’ll need to stay up, because they don’t know how many points – if any – they will be docked if found guilty.

Those wingbacks

In a game where you score three goals and keep a clean sheet, it’s often the attackers and the defenders that will get the plaudits, so I just want to give a quick shoutout to two players who weren’t really in either of those positions.

Moses Odubajo and Kadeem Harris, I thought, were excellent yesterday as they played their parts in a big victory for SWFC, though neither was tremendously effective when going forward.

Odubajo had arguably his best game in a Wednesday shirt, getting up and down the right hand side very well and showing the kind of athleticism that saw him so highly-rated in the first place.

As for Harris, he looked like a seasoned full back at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, putting in a huge shift down the left as he consistently halted the hosts’ play. He made as many tackles as Iorfa did, and deserves huge credit for his showing.

The right ref

There should be shouts of ‘Can we have you every week?’ from Wednesdayites this weekend, but not talking to QPR – talking about the referee Oliver Langford.

With that 3-0 win, Langford has now been the man in the middle for three of SWFC’s last four victories in the Championship, as he was also in charge for the 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic as well as the big win over Leeds United earlier this year.

Jokes aside though, Langford really did handle the game very well. The fact that nobody was talking about him afterwards is testament to that. So yeah, nice one Mr. Langford.

The kids are alright

I couldn’t not mention Alex Hunt, could I?

In his full Wednesday debut, Hunt looked assured, confident and not at all out of place in the midfield alongside Barry Bannan and Massimo Luongo. He was tidy in possession and very rarely gave the ball away, but should also be praised for the way that he always seems to be looking forward and trying to make something happen.

He’s 20, he’s still a bit raw, but yesterday – his first senior start – gave a glimpse of what the future could hold for the youngster.

Also, just a note on another young talent, Liam Shaw, who also held the fort well when he came on his Owls debut, replacing Tom Lees in the dying embers of the game to get his professional career properly underway.

Wonderful Windass

He looked bright in his cameo against Preston North End, and Josh Windass definitely picked up where he left off when given a start in London.

The biggest praise I can give is that the forward did not look at all like a player who was getting his first start in months and who had just recovered from injury.

Sure, he lacked a little bit of sharpness in terms of his finishing, but his work rate and high pressing was tremendous the entire time he was on the field. He was hustling from the first whistle, and his constant pressure played a big role in Wednesday getting the win.

Should he have had a hattrick? Probably, even he thought so. But his performance was much more than just getting on the scoresheet. A good showing.

A word on Monk

He’s taken a lot of flack for the recent results, some of which was completely overboard, but Monk has to take credit for how things went for Wednesday on Saturday afternoon.

He stuck to his guns on the 3-5-2 formation that he feels suits the side the most, and was also brave to throw Tom Lees and Alex Hunt into the starting XI given the former’s recent injury and the latter’s lack of first team experience. Both of those decisions paid off.

The performance, on the back of an ‘honest’ team meeting, was much improved, and he should be credited for that. Now they have to back it up against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night.