Karlan Grant made the difference as West Brom produced a late fightback to beat QPR 2-1 at the Hawthorns on Friday and go back to the top of the Championship.
Rangers went ahead in the first minute when a through ball by Moses Odubajo caught the Albion defence napping, putting Andre Gray clean through. The Wolverhampton-born striker took a touch and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
West Brom struggled to create chances against organised opponents, restricted to long-range efforts from Grant and Grady Diangana. Adam Reach saw his 35th-minute header blocked by QPR keeper Seny Dieng but Albion were booed off at half-time.
The hosts were dominant territorially and created chances without finding the decisive touch in front of goal – but they were gifted a route back into the game after a mistake by Dieng, the hero in the Hoops’ Carabao Cup shootout win over Everton. The goalkeeper allowed a near-post shot from Grant to squirm from his grasp and into the net for an own goal.
Albion pushed on for a winner and found it two minutes from time. Grant fired left-footed across Dieng after a lovely passing move which saw Jordan Hugill backheel the ball to Callum Robinson, who then set up Grant to score. “The second goal was the real us,” said the West Brom head coach Valérien Ismaël afterwards.
“We showed the intensity to win the ball, work the passes, then finish it off. I was delighted for Karlan. He got the breakthrough and he worked really hard for the other guys.” Ismaël also hit back at fans who booed after he brought Hugill on for Diangana. “I am here to make decisions and I know exactly what I am doing,” he said.
Grant’s late intervention denied Coventry top spot in the Championship, but the Sky Blues moved second on goal difference with a 3-0 home win over Peterborough.
The Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres scored twice as Coventry changed the game inside eight second-half minutes. Midfielder Gustavo Hamer broke the deadlock in the 57th minute, with Gyökeres adding the second just four minutes later as he tapped home from Todd Kane’s cross.
The former Brighton forward completed the scoring three minutes later after another mazy run inside the box, his deflected shot looping over the helpless David Cornell and into the back of the net for his seventh Championship goal of the season.
The Coventry manager, Mark Robins, said his in-form striker is “gleaming from belief. I said from when he came in he was absolutely brilliant, everything he hit was going in the net until he had a bit of a lull in pre-season.”
“He looked like he was running on empty towards the end and there’s no disgrace in that, he worked his socks off and he’s got his goals,” Robins added. “I thought [the win] was nothing less than we deserved, the performance was brilliant, the atmosphere was electric. It was a difficult game, they’ve given us a stern test.”
