Telegraph

Confidence grows by the inch and is destroyed by the foot. After 35 minutes Sheffield Wednesday were rock-bottom but by the end it was Queens Park Rangers who had been mugged.

Luigi de Canio's visitors opened the scoring after 15 minutes when Damien Delaney ghosted forward from defence to convert Rowan Vine's low cross. They almost increased their lead but Patrick Agyemang's shot struck a post.

Goals change games but it was a double substitution by Wednesday manager Brian Laws after 40 minutes which prompted a radical change in their fortunes. "I could have taken any of the 11 off," Laws said. "I hold my hand up and I got it wrong."

The impact was almost immediate with Graham Kavanagh's header looping over Rangers goalkeeper Lee Camp.

QPR never recovered fully from this psychological blow and the turnaround was complete when Wednesday went ahead shortly after the restart. Sean McAllister was brought down by Camp in the area and Deon Burton, his fellow substitute, kept his cool to record his fourth league goal of the season.

Rangers' woe was compounded by the late dismissal of substitute Hogan Ephraim for a foul on debutant Franck Songo'o.

By contrast, this win brought some welcome respite for third-bottom Wednesday on a day they remembered the late club stalwart Derek Dooley with a minute's standing ovation. One can only imagine what he would have made of an unsavoury melee between the two teams on the final whistle.

Laws said: "If we had lost that it could have been the final nail in the coffin." Now he knows he must "get it right" five more times from Wednesday to survive.

Sunday Mirror

Brian Laws came up trumps with a brave double substitution as his struggling Owls racked up a desperately needed win.

Wednesday were heading nowhere when boss Laws dragged off Ronnie Wallwork and Enoch Showunmi just five minutes before the break.

But subs Sean McAllister and Deon Burton injected a new spring into their step and helped grab a crucial equaliser which acted as a springboard for the Owls to go on and win the game.

That looked unlikely, though, when Wednesday fell behind to Damien Delaney's 15th-minute opener for Rangers.

Delaney steered a low drive across keeper Lee Grant and into the far bottom corner of the net after good work from Martin Rowlands and Rowan Vine.

The Hoops should have increased their lead 10 minutes later, but hitman Patrick Agyemang was unlucky to see his shot on the turn rebound off the foot of a post.

Then Laws made his decisive switches and Wednesday equalised in first-half injury time.

Franck Songo'o brilliantly lifted the ball over the Rangers defence and Graham Kavanagh planted a header over keeper Lee Camp from 10 yards.

Then the Owls grabbed the winner on 52 minutes when Burton fired home from the penalty spot after Camp had brought down McAllister.

Rangers suffered further when Hogan Ephraim was sent off for flattening Songo'o.