QPR figure still thinks about Sheffield Wednesday moment - makes frank 'revenge' claim

But QPR manager Marti Cifuentes has not been ready to let go of what happened in Sheffield Wednesday’s dramatic Hillsborough win over his side back in December.

The Owls trailed 1-0 heading into the 87th minute of a back-and-forth clash before goals from Bailey Cadamarteri and Anthony Musaba earned the home side the third of three wins in four matches to throw belief behind their survival mission.

The nature of defeat in South Yorkshire has sat heavy in the mind of Cifuentes. Speaking ahead of the match, the Spanish coach said: “We have a big respect for Sheffield Wednesday, especially as we lost to them last time which is still in my mind.

“I would like to think that we have improved [since the defeat to Wednesday]. I like to think that we are a team that is conceding few goal chances per game, that we are defensively quite stable.

“I would like to think that we are more mature emotionally as well. A big part of this game was emotions… about having the feeling that the game was under control. When you are 1-0 up or even 2-0 up games can change really quickly here in England.

“In the 87th minute, Sam [Field] had a big chance to score the second goal and, in the same minute, we conceded from a counter-attack and then the game explodes. It was a very frustrating game but I think we learnt from that. It’s something that we need to keep in mind a little bit, even if it’s one per cent, a little bit of revenge from this game.”

Back-to-back wins either side of the Easter weekend have elevated QPR into 16th place in the table, seven points ahead of the Owls. In a congested and highly-competitive bottom half of the table, Cifuentes delivered a message of caution to his players not to take their Championship status for granted.

The Hoops boss continued: “The biggest mistake we could make at this moment of the season is to think the job is done just because we got some decent results lately,” he said. “The guys know, the staff now. Everybody has been working hard but unfortunately 46 points will not be enough [to avoid relegation]. The reality is there is still a lot of games to be played and we need to make sure that we perform well, starting on Saturday.

“One of the reasons that the Championship has perhaps been so interesting from a supporters’ point of view is that Sheffield Wednesday have done really well [since appointing Rohl] and we have done really well as well,” he said. “Four months ago, it looked like three teams were going to League One and now there is a lot of teams involved in this [relegation battle].”