West Bromwich Albion 1 - Queens Park Rangers 0

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Ratings submitted so far: 16

Brendan Clegg:

Great win that, and apart from playoff games probably the best atmosphere in a long time.

I was happy with the team with both wingers in and Price through the middle and we started with high energy.

Big but coming though… we couldn’t get it to click in that first half. The energy was there and we created threatening situations but the final ball/end product was poor, we were a bit sloppy in parts and AA wasn’t really in the game.

QPR kept it well to be fair - they didn’t really threaten but they stretched the pitch and passed it around.

It was frustrating but not a disaster for us as we tried to work them out… but then at the end of the half a great burst from Fellows going on the outside and a good pull back saw Molumby tripped and a rare penalty to us.

AA walloped it in and from there you felt we’d take control.

A few minutes later Furlong was given a straight red. There didn’t seem to be a swing and it looked harsh, I’ve not seen anything in footage afterwards to justify a red and a referee has to be certain there. It didn’t feel like he was.

Molumby already on a yellow started getting involved and thankfully half time saved us.

At HT I’d have take Molumby off to save him from himself, brought Holgate on, dropped Price alongside Mowatt and kept the pace of Fellows for us to counter but it was Fellows who made way.

To a man in that 2nd period we were brilliant. Fighting, defending, holding shape. Credit to Molumby, he was everywhere but also really controlled. Price, after all shakey 5 getting used to being out wide, covered the yards and played like a wing back. I thought we stopped any major threat from them and looked more likely to score.

There were strong, hard-working and battling cameos from Grant and Dike, the back 4 were immense and Wildsmith did everything necessary.

Big win and I expect us to appeal the red. The celebrations at the end felt like going back 20 years!

• Wildsmith - 6 Solid, a few frustrating kicks
• Furlong - 6 was okay, can’t see it was a red
• Barts - 8 loved it out there
• Heggem - 8 Another top performance
• Styles - 7 stood up to everything.
• Fellows - 6 key for the goal… just go on the outside Tom!
• Molumby - 8 Everywhere, leading the charge
• Mowatt - 7 not his best passing game but also did the graft
• Mikey - 6 threat and danger but end product off it
• Price - 8 Legs, touch, tackles… still making the wrong decisions sometimes but at 21, really promising
• AA - 6 Quiet but great pen and defended from the front

• Holgate - 7 Didn’t put a foot wrong in his best position
• Grant - 6 Put the yards in and stretched them
• Dike - 6 Looked very useful again. Winning flicks or 50/50s. Helped us out.
• Diakite - 6 slotted in.

Bigger result as the others went our way. Let’s hope we can follow it up on Tuesday. A patient point up there would be tremendous.

Finally a bit of a personal ask. I’m running The Shakespeare Marathon for Black Country Women’s Aid. If anyone could chip in a few quid, no matter how small, I’d be very grateful.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/brendan-clegg-2