QPR 1 WBA 2:Harry Redknapp knew the size of the task he was accepting at Queens Park Rangers but a month into the job he could be forgiven for fearing the preservation of this club's top-flight status is beyond even him.
Having already seen his attempts to mould this mishmash of a squad into a more cohesive unit jeopardised by untimely dissent within the ranks, most overtly when Jose Bosingwa refused to sit on the bench in the recent derby against Fulham, now it appears fate is conspiring against him as well.
This game culminated in frantic if rather belated Rangers pressure, with West Bromwich Albion heaving admirably to preserve their narrow lead, but it ultimately ended lost to a goal that defied belief. The home side were trailing to Chris Brunt’s thunderous first-half shot when, early in the second period, the midfielder’s corner was nodded up rather than out by Armand Traore.
The ball looped towards goal where Rob Green had been edged behind his line by Marc-Antoine Fortune, the forward clearly backing into the goalkeeper.
Hampered
He was off the ground but hampered as he pawed at the loose ball, managing only to palm it into his own net, but Chris Foy’s whistle for an offence never materialised.
The protests were instant and livid, and would be revived after the final whistle, but all fell on deaf ears. Green departed wearing the haggard look of a man wondering why he tends to attract such indignity.
“How can a goalkeeper play the ball when the fella is backing into him?” asked Redknapp. “Fortune had no intention of playing the ball. He just wanted to stop Green getting to the ball, and that’s obstruction . . . It was a blatant foul.”
Just to complete Redknapp’s misery, Liam Ridgewell’s handball from Djibril Cisse’s header at the far post in stoppage time went unnoticed, with the home team bellowing for a penalty. “I asked the linesman how he didn’t see that penalty – it was the most blatant handball you could wish to see – but he said it was murky down there in that corner and he couldn’t make it out,” said Redknapp.
“Maybe he should go to Specsavers. I thought they were both awful decisions. Scandalous decisions.”
The penalty appeal came amid frantic late pressure, Ben Foster saving wonderfully from Clint Hill’s header, after Cisse had halved the arrears from Stephane Mbia’s precise pass.
For long periods, however, Rangers had been rather aimless with West Brom in control from the moment Brunt belted them ahead from 30 yards, the midfielder exploiting space allowed him by a daydreaming Adel Taarabt.
