Robert Green the Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper reacts after conceding an own goal
LONDON, England ● A controversial Robert Green own goal proved the winner as Queens Park Rangers slumped to another defeat to return to the foot of the Premier League.
Baggies captain Chris Brunt fired the visitors ahead with a low shot from distance.
Four minutes after the break West Brom doubled their lead after Green tipped a high ball into his own net, despite being clearly impeded by Marc-Antoine Fortune on the line.
Djibril Cisse’s classy finish gave QPR hope, but West Brom held on – and survived a late penalty shout – to claim the points.
Harry Redknapp slammed referee Chris Foy after the game.
“They were awful decisions. The referee got them totally wrong. How do you not see the penalty? Ridgewell had his hands up,” Redknapp was quoted as saying by West London Sport.
“The linesman said it was murky in that corner and he couldn’t see it. Maybe he should go to Specsavers.
“I hate to hear managers moaning about decisions. I don’t slag referees off. It’s about once a year that I’ll have the hump with a referee.
“But today that was poor. They were two vital decisions that were so important to us.
“How can a keeper play the ball when there’s a fella backing him in? You can’t push him (Fortune) over because it’s a penalty.
“He (Fortune) has got no intention of playing the ball. His only intention was to stop someone getting to the ball and that’s obstruction.”
Having led his new team to two defeats in their last two matches, Redknapp had no hesitation in acknowledging the severity of the club’s situation.
“I couldn’t fault the effort,” he said.
“We battered them at the end and just couldn’t get a goal.
“We’re bang in trouble, stuck at the bottom. But it aint over yet, that’s for sure.”
West Brom manager Steve Clarke meanwhile feels his team have still not received the plaudits they deserve for such impressive performances to date this season.
“I want to talk about having 33 points after 19 games,” Clarke was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“Up until they scored we had complete control and people should give us respect.
“There was a gulf between the teams. We passed the ball well, created some half chances, while they looked like a team at the bottom of the table.”
Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes because of heavy traffic around Loftus Road, caused by thousands of Londoners flocking to the nearby Westfield to grab a Boxing Day bargain.
And QPR boss Harry Redknapp will be eyeing the January sales too, as his side created very little in an insipid first half display. Shaun Wright-Phillips’s incisive run and cross for Jamie Mackie, who glanced his header wide, was the only moment of note for the R’s.
West Brom looked comfortable and, although the goal came from nothing, it was always likely given QPR’s calamitous defending. So when Chris Brunt was given space to run into and unleash a venomous low drive into the bottom corner, there was little reaction from Steve Clarke.
QPR looked shaken by the goal and James Morrison could have inflicted further misery on QPR when his long-range effort in first half injury-time whistled just wide.
But West Brom did not have to wait long to double their lead, although it was a goal Redknapp will rightly bemoan.
Anton Ferdinand’s skyward header appeared to be dropping into Green’s arms, but the goalkeeper could only turn it into his own net under illegal pressure from Fortune. Redknapp couldn’t believe it hadn’t been disallowed, and Green continued his protests at the full-time whistle.
QPR reacted well to going behind with Redknapp changing the formation to a 3-5-2, with Junior Hoilett providing a threat down the left. And the hosts gave themselves when Cisse collected Stephane Mbia’s neat through ball, and classily lifted it over the advancing Ben Foster.
An increasingly desperate QPR threw everything at West Brom in search of an equaliser, but fell victim to more bad luck when a clear handball in the box against Liam Ridgewell when unnoticed.
The boos rang around Loftus Road at full-time, with QPR now six points from safety. West Brom move level on points with Everton in fifth.
