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A late strike from Jake Livermore crushed Queens Park Rangers spirits as West Brom ran out 3-2 winners at Loftus Road. In a back and forth game West Brom dealt the final blow, after QPR were forced to play a man down for the last ten minutes due to a Luke Freeman injury.
Queens Park Rangers made one change to their side that lost to Watford last time out, Joel Lynch replacing Grant Hall. Meanwhile, Darren Moore’s West Brom made three changes from his team’s derby win at Villa Park, Stefan Johansen and Sam Field returning to the starting line-up whilst Jefferson Montero made his first start after his January loan from Swansea. Former Rangers player Matt Phillips also returned from injury to make the Baggies bench.
Toni Leistner told the QPR wesbite pre-match that he and his teammates were keen to avoid a repeat of the 7-1 drubbing which occurred against West Brom at The Hawthorns in August as they looked to stop the Baggies in their bid to return to the top-flight at the first time of asking.
Leistner’s wish didn’t get off to a great start. After the ball was played to Jacob Murphy, the on-loan Newcastle winger played a low cross which was half- cleared by Joel Lynch on the goal-line. The clearance fell straight to Jefferson Montero, who on the date of his first Albion start volleyed past Joe Lumley from close range to give Darren Moore’s side the perfect start with only five minutes on the clock.
Jefferson Montero gives West Brom an early lead at Loftus Road (Photo: Twitter/@WBA)
The home side looked to be to get a foothold in the game but the speed of West Brom’s front three were constantly causing the R’s a danger on the counter. A run from Jordan Cousins resulted in a Ahmed Hegazi foul and a perfect opportunity for QPR’s number seven Luke Freeman to test Sam Johnstone in the West Brom goal, but his effort sailed comfortably over the bar and into the empty stand behind.
Crosses into Matt Smith was the name of the game for Steve McClaren’s side but with 25 minutes gone, the man with four goals in four games had been outclassed by experienced heads Craig Dawson and Ahmed Hegazi. A missed kick under pressure from Joe Lumley almost gifted Jay Rodriguez an open goal five minutes later, but the keeper’s well-executed sliding tackle saved himself from embarressment.
Continued calamitous defending looked as though it could gift Albion a goal any minute as frustration around the ground grew, but that was soon released as QPR struck the next telling blow of the tie.
After an interception in midfield, Nahki Wells drove at the West Brom defence and eventually slipped through Freeman, who smashed the ball through Johnstone to level the scores with ten minutes of the half left to play.
Luke Freeman struck ten minutes before half-time to level the game (Photo: Twitter/@QPR)
A reflex save from Lumley denied Kieran Gibbs from reclaiming the lead for the Baggies before appeals for a penalty at the other end on Massimo Luongo were waved away by referee John Brooks. Rangers finished the stronger side before the break but may have been relieved to be level on the balance of play at Loftus Road.
McClaren brought on Ebere Eze for Matt Smith at half-time as QPR looked to snap their seven-game winless run.
Eze’s strike partner Wells curled wide after a battling effort before Polish international Pawel Wszolek struck a low-driven shot past Johnstone’s left post. The away side were not without threat, a combination of Dawson and Rodriguez heading just over for the promotion challengers.
The calamitous defending mentioned earlier caught up the QPR. Joel Lynch, who returned to the side for this game, headed a ball away that everyone in Loftus Road was happy to let through to Lumley, citing groans from old to young. The header fell straight to Murphy’s feet who drove down the line and struck a low shot across the Rangers keeper into the far corner to give West Brom the lead and send the 1,492 travelling supporters into jubilant celebrations.
Jacob Murphy celebrates his goal after poor defending from Joel Lynch (Photo: Twitter/@WBA)
The introduction of Bright Osayi-Samuel sparked some life into the QPR attack, the former Blackpool winger earning a dangerous free-kick for the hosts, but against the height of West Brom, QPR struggled to win aerial duels.
A clever flick by Tomer Hemed over the head of Dawson left the Englishman recovering with referee Brooks judging the defender to have fouled the substitute Hemed, pointing for a QPR penalty.
The Israeli stepped up to take the spot-kick and was the coolest man in W12 as he rolled the ball past Johnstone to once again bring the west London side level.
A brilliant low stop from Lumley denied Murphy a second after a Rodriguez dummy. Osayi-Samuel’s effort was then saved by Johnstone as the game began to become an end to end affair.
Eze’s strike was well held by the Baggies keeper as chances began to appear regularly for both sides.
The west London side’s talisman Luke Freeman was forced off with injury which meant Rangers would have to see out the final five minutes with ten men, having made all of their substitutions.
Murphy’s deflected effort sailed narrowly wide as the Baggies seized control. Murphy was involved again in a move which resulted in a Matt Phillips shot being dragged wide as it became backs to the wall for QPR.
Five minutes of added time was too much in the end for McClaren’s side. Mason Holgate breaching the QPR backline before fizzing a low ball into the box for captain Jake Livermore to flick home and claim all three points for West Brom.
The goal was Livermore’s first of the season in what could prove to be a crucial event in the race for promotion to the Premier League. For McClaren for QPR, the result sees them start to look below them at the relegation places as they continue to slip towards Championship insecurity.
Attendance: 12,257
Away fans: 1,492
QPR XI: Lumley (GK), Furlong, Leistner (C), Lynch, Wszolek (Osayi-Samuel, 71) Cousins, Luongo, Freeman, Bidwell, Wells (Hemed, 70), Smith (Eze, 45)
QPR unused substitutes: Ingram (GK), Kakay, Scowen, Manning
West Brom XI: Johnstone, Holgate, Dawson, Hegazi, Gibbs, Livermore (C), Johansen (Barry, 65), Field (Phillips, 80), Murphy, Montero (Harper, 57) Rodriguez
West Brom unused substitutes: Bond, Bartley, Adarabioyo, Edwards
