Sheffield United 0-0 QPR: Chris Willock sinks Championship leaders

Chris Willock's sixth goal of the season earned QPR a fifth win in seven games as they beat Championship leaders Sheffield United 1-0 at Bramall Lane.

The Hoops had lost each of their last five meetings against United but Willock's 51st-minute effort ended that sequence as the hosts suffered a first defeat in 10 matches.

Victory also meant fourth-placed QPR closed the gap on the Championship leaders to three points.

Paul Heckingbottom's men had earlier made a confident start with Chris Basham's 20-yard half-volley calling Rangers keeper Seny Dieng into action.

Oliver Norwood also fired over from distance before a Tommy Doyle effort was routinely gathered by Dieng.

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Just before the quarter-hour mark, a more threatening Doyle strike whistled wide of the away goal from 30 yards out.

Having withstood the early pressure, QPR then began to make their presence felt with captain Ilias Chair brilliantly ghosting past John Egan and Basham before forcing a near-post save from Wes Foderingham in the 25th minute.

The Blades were soon back on the offensive, however, with Egan dragging a volley across the face of goal and George Baldock's far-post header bouncing wide following a Jayden Bogle cross.

Iliman Ndiaye and Bogle then both created chances for themselves after drifting into the box from the left flank - the former guided his 10-yard shot just past the far post and the latter's firm drive punched away by Dieng.

On the stroke of half-time, Bogle also sliced an edge-of-the-box opportunity well off target.

The Londoners went on to start the second period with greater purpose, as Tyler Roberts volleyed over from the edge of the box before Willock made the breakthrough.

After receiving a square pass from Ethan Laird through the right channel, the former England under-20 international beat Foderingham from a narrow angle at his near post after firing in between the ex-Swindon keeper's legs.

In response, a curling Norwood shot was excellently pushed around his left-hand upright by Dieng but QPR were back on the front foot moments later with Foderingham saving a Lyndon Dykes drive with his legs and Roberts' goal-bound follow-up effort deflecting narrowly wide.

Looking for attacking inspiration, Heckingbottom hailed Billy Sharp off the bench and the veteran striker headed over shortly afterwards.

Egan also cleared the crossbar after leaping highest to meet Norwood's corner and further headers from Ndiaye and Rhian Brewster also missed the target as did a powerful strike from distance by Norwood.

Sander Berge saw a 20-yard attempt blocked by the determined visitors defence, who survived strong appeals for a home penalty in the third minute of stoppage time when Andre Dozzell grabbed a good handful of the Norwegian midfielder's shirt.

What the managers said...

Sheffield United's Paul Heckingbottom: "There were two hands on him pulling his shirt and he's actually got injured from it after twisting when he fell over, so we will be getting that scanned. The ref said they were pulling each other's shirts.

"QPR also took a lot of time to do things and just giving a yellow card in the 81st minute is not good enough - but all that's not taking anything away from them, because they defended fantastically well and their two centre-halves were very good. In terms of the performance, you'd take that every week and we would win more than we'd lose. All their staff can't believe how they have come away with something from the game but I can because they defended very well and we lost the runner for the goal, which we don't normally do."

QPR's Michael Beale: "We haven't played everyone yet but it was the toughest game we have had by far and very different. But we scored a good goal with our only moment of real quality in terms of possession and I was delighted with the group. Sheffield United are a much more established team than us with a lot more know-how and we are growing as a young group, but we showed qualities that you can't really give players like making big blocks and headers.

"It took a lot of blood, guts and hard yards to get this result. We had a bit of a sort out at half-time because I wanted to show a bit more and I challenged Ethan Laird, who has been excellent this season, because he was being given a tough time and then he went and got himself an assist for the goal."

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