Alan Irvine expressed his satisfaction after Sheffield Wednesday posted a point against QPR on Saturday.

Tom Soares headed his second goal of the season to equalise Alejandro Faurlin's first half strike in the 1-1 draw at Loftus Road.

And Irvine admitted that he was delighted with the impact of his two second half substitutes, Jermaine Johnson and Leon Clarke.

He said: "I thought we started the game quite well but then we made a couple of mistakes which gave QPR a little bit of momentum. From then on we found it difficult to get a foothold in the game but we hung in there."

Lewis Buxton - returning to duty after a two-month absence through injury - man-marked QPR playmaker Adel Taraabt from the off and Irvine said he was happy with the way the utility man coped.

He explained: "I thought Lewis Buxton was tremendous. I'd seen QPR play a few times this season and knew of their strengths. We knew who their threats were prior to the game and we set up to try and deal with those threats and I thought did that well.

"We could have come here and just played our own game, but we had to try and cope with QPR's dangermen, so we set out to stop them.

"We went behind and as the game went on I thought we needed more in the final third so we made two attacking substitutions which worked out in the end.

"Jermaine Johnson wasn't fit enough to start the game and provided us with an option off the bench, as did Leon Clarke. They both came on and changed the game for us."

Soares' equaliser extends Wednesday's unbeaten run to six games and Irvine stressed the importance of continuing to pick up points as the battle against the drop intensifies.

He concluded: "We've now lost just once in eight games and that was away at West Brom, where I thought we were very unlucky.

"We now have to build on this performance and take it into the game this coming Monday against Bristol City."