Debate over QPR's game-changing deflected goal that left Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith wrong-footed

The stopper faced critics after Stefan Johansen’s 50th-minute effort deflected awkwardly from the head of defender Osaze Urhoghide and evaded his left-hand.

Asked about the goal after the match, Smith pointed out the shot should have been stopped at source and that on first sight he felt Wildsmith was not at fault.

“We didn’t get out quick enough to close the ball down and it took a deflection to take it past Joe,” he said.

“I haven’t seen it back properly, but I don’t think so, a deflection always makes it difficult for goalkeepers.”

It wasn’t an opinion shared by former Wednesday manager Garry Monk, who was working the match as a pundit for Sky Sports.

“It takes a slight deflection but for Joe, he has to be dealing with that better,” he said. “It’s a slight deflection but it’s not a huge one and you’d expect him to deal with that better.

“There wasn’t a lot of pace on the ball, but for whatever reason it’s deceived him and gone into the net and that’s a crucial moment.

“From there it quickly went to 3-1 and Wednesday didn’t recover from that.”

Monk also said there was a failing in terms of Wednesday being able to convert their chances, a theme that has dogged the side all season.

“It’s well documented, I’ve said it across the season,” he said. “The problem has been arriving in the final third and having opportunities.

“The final decisions haven’t been as consistent as you’d like, you need to be ruthless and clinical. We saw that last week so we know it is in them to do that, but it hasn’t been enough. That’s something that needs to be there when you’re at the bottom of the league fighting for survival.

“It was very easy for both sides to arrive in one another’s boxes. The difference was, for QPR, when the arrived there, they had the quality and took their chances and were more clinical with it. That was the biggest difference between the two teams.”

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