Charlie Austin bagged a hat-trick as Queens Park Rangers came from two goals down to beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 and climb out of the relegation zone.
Goals from Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela helped the Baggies into a two-goal lead inside 20 minutes, before Austin netted a penalty to reduce the arrears shortly after.
The 25-year-old then struck his 10th Premier League goal of the season early in the first half to level up the match, before glancing a late header beyond Ben Foster to propel Rangers up to 15th in the table.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at how the dramatic encounter at Loftus Road was won.
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Match statistics
QPR
Shots: 9
On target: 7
Possession: 43%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 8
WEST BROM
Shots: 12
On target: 6
Possession: 57%
Corners: 11
Fouls: 14
Was the result fair?
Probably not, no. While QPR fought well to get back into the clash, they did nowhere near enough to win the game after restoring parity early in the second half, and can count themselves slightly fortunate to have won the game. Albion deserved a point at the bare minimum and hit the crossbar in the dying stages to make defeat even tougher to swallow for the players and manager Alan Irvine.
QPR's performance
Harry Redknapp elected to field an old-fashioned 4-4-2, with Austin and Bobby Zamora leading the attack, but the partnership yielded little to no reward in a first half that saw the duo create very little for each other.
Overall, QPR did not look like a team who had won four of their last five games at Loftus Road - the other being a 2-2 draw with Manchester City. They were second best throughout the opening 45 minutes and might have considered themselves fortunate to be trailing only 2-1 at the break.
They equalised very early in the second half, but even then Redknapp's side lost all momentum and the veteran manager will know that today's victory was a smash-and-grab of the highest order. They were lucky, with Saido Berahino also hitting the crossbar late on.
West Brom's performance
Victory for the Baggies would have seen them move six points clear of the relegation zone, and Irvine's side started the game like a team determined to head into Christmas with a degree of comfort over their Premier League status. They started brilliantly; scoring twice inside the first 20 minutes in a completely dominant performance.
Austin's penalty took the wind out of their sails ever so slightly, but the visitors came back well and could, and perhaps should, have extended their lead after missing a few more decent chances before the break. During his half-time team talk, Irvine should have drilled home the importance of weathering an inevitable storm in the second half, and if he did then his players took little notice of it as the Baggies conceded within two minutes of the restart.
Even still, West Brom were probably the better team at 2-2, but they never inspired confidence in the final third, with Brown Ideye ineffective yet again as their spearhead. Overall they did not deserve to lose, but they did not deserve the three points either.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Charlie Austin: The 25-year-old scored three times to take his tally to 11 Premier League goals in what is his first season of top-flight football.
It was by no means a brilliant all-round performance from him, and there were one or two chances that he should have done better with, but he did make the difference today and reiterated why he is such an important figure in Rangers' survival bid.
Biggest gaffe
It has to be James Morrison, who conceded such a daft penalty at a time when West Brom were two goals up and in complete control. The Scottish midfielder was virtually hugging Leroy Fer in the penalty area as Joey Barton swung in a corner, and referee Craig Pawson was right to penalise him. Austin converted the resulting penalty and Morrison will be very quiet on the trip back to the West Midlands, because his moment of madness offered QPR a route back into the clash which they took full advantage of.
Referee performance
It started off as quite a good game for Pawson, who correctly awarded Queens Park Rangers a penalty after Morrison harassed Fer, but the referee made a few questionable calls in the second half.
Firstly, he failed to entertain what looked like a stick-on penalty when Morrison tripped Joey Barton in the area, before he ignored Clint Hill excessively kicking Stephane Sessegnon in frustration, which should have earned the left-back a yellow card at the very, very least. Overall, Pawson made more bad decisions than good ones in the end.
What next?
Queens Park Rangers: Rangers travel across London for a clash at Arsenal on Boxing Day.
West Bromwich Albion: Irvine and company host reigning Premier League champions Manchester City on the same day.
Shane Callaghan
