1 CHARLIE’S CHOKER
Austin winner leaves Baggies reeling
Subs not used:
89
CHARLIE AUSTIN had the last laugh on West Brom fans who branded him “sh*te”.
The former Baggie stepped off the bench to head home the 89thminute winner which saw QPR leapfrog the visitors into fourth place.
It left West Brom boss Valerien Ismael furious as he felt his side were robbed of a penalty just before that, claiming Stefan Johansen had bundled over Conor Townsend in the box.
Austin had been welcomed onto the pitch as a 65th-minute sub with cries of ‘You’re here coz you’re sh*te’ from the away end.
But 20 minutes later it was the home fans who were bouncing as the cult Rangers hero swooped ahead of Darnell Furlong to head home Chris Willock’s cross to sink his old club.
QPR boss Mark Warburton said: “You have to enjoy being a good player, playing in front of a big crowd, and scoring, and Charlie did that. That’s why you play football.
“The scene was set for Charlie as he came on when the heat and pace had been taken out of the game and he found space and scored a quality goal.
“No matter how big a win that was, you get only three points, but it takes us two points above West Brom with a game in hand.”
Like the twotone shirts QPR wore to mark the club’s 140th anniversary, this proved a game of two halves.
Albion’s former Hoop Matt Phillips toed a Karlan Grant cross wide on 20 minutes, while Johansen stung Albion keeper David Button’s palms with a 20-yarder in the only exciting moments of the first half.
But the hosts broke off the shackles after the break as Andre Gray had a goal disallowed and Lyndon Dykes fired over from close range soon after the restart. It took the arrival of Daryl Dike for his debut on 58 minutes to give the Baggies some much-needed edge.
He almost flicked in Grant with his first touch then crossed for Jake Livermore to fire over from six yards.
Rangers had a big let off when Grant’s cross deflected off Rob Dickie and beat debutant goalkeeper David Marshall but the ball rolled along the line and past the post for a corner.
By this time Austin had entered the fray to grab the headlines, much to the frustration of Baggies boss Ismael (above).
He said: “The game changed with what should have been a penalty for us. It was a clear penalty on Townsend and two minutes later we conceded the goal.
“This is a big frustration for us to again accept a decision that has gone against us,” he said.