Egan turns from villain to hero to stun QPR in the 96th minute in 1-1 draw

By Alessandro Schiavone at Loftus Road

Moroccan World Cup semi-finalist Ilias Chair’s deflected 11th-minute goal was cancelled out by another deflected effort from John Egan deep into stoppage-time as both sides fought out a 1-1 draw in West London.

The Moroccan whizard, who was left out of his nation’s starting XI for all seven of their matches, showed his national team coach Walid Regragui that he still has an affinity with the number 11 after all.

And there was plenty of luck in the opening goal as a poor John Egan clearance fell into the feet of Chris Willock who teed up Chair. Shockingly afforded time and space, the 25-year-old swung his boot and the shot came off Egan as QPR took the lead.

Minutes later, QPR’s only other World Cup participant Seny Dieng got his redemption for some misplaced kicks earlier in the game by keeping out a low effort from Billy Sharp with his left foot.

QPR aimed to be out of sight heading into the interval but Lyndon Dykes did not get on the end of a great delivery from Tyler Roberts despite stealing in at the far post. He lacked conviction in a particularly frustrating night on a personal level, having been fed on scraps.

Enda Stevens hammered a shot just wide of Dieng’s cage in the 36th minute but the Londoners had a stranglehold on the encounter and headed into the dressing room one goal to the good.

Sheffield upped their intensity and went close to parity either side of hour-mark. Clean through on goal Sharp’s dinked finish first failed to find the net before Dieng rushed off his line to repel Iliman Ndiaye.

Yet Egan bounced back from his first-half calamity when he pulled the trigger following a scramble inside the QPR box as the Blades take a vital point back to Bramall Lane.

Queens Park Rangers

1 Seny Dieng- 2 Osman Kakay- 4 Rob Dickie- 7 Chris Willock-9 Lyndon Dykes-10 Ilias Chair- 11 Tyler Roberts-15 Sam Field-22 Kenneth Paal-47 Tim Iroegbunam

Sheffield United

18 Wes Foderingham-2 George Baldock-3 Enda Stevens-8 Sander Berge- 10 Billy Sharp-12 John Egan-15 Anel Ahmedhodzic-16 Oliver Norwood-22 Tommy Doyle-26 Ciaran Clark-29 Iliman Ndiaye