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Mowbray: "I think the penalty save gave us the impetus to go on and win the football match." |
TONY Mowbray believes Dean Kiely's 67th-minute penalty save was the turning point in Albion's spirited 2-1 win at struggling QPR.
And the Hawthorns boss insisted it was a case of forget the performance, feel the points as the Loftus Road victory lifted the Baggies above Wolves into fifth spot and within six points of the automatic-promotion places.
Kevin Phillips opened the scoring three minutes after the break but events took a turn for the worse in a mad second-half four-minute spell.
Rangers substitute Dexter Blackstock cancelled out his former Southampton team-mate's strike by snatching a 63rd-minute leveller with his first touch of the game.
The hosts then looked set to get their noses in front when Paul Robinson fouled Paul Furlong in the box.
But Kiely kept out ex-Blues striker Furlong's spot-kick and super-sub Zoltan Gera completed a terrific turnaround for the visitors when he volleyed the winner six minutes from time.
"I think the penalty save gave us the impetus to go on and win the football match," said Mowbray.
"If we'd have gone 2-1 down it would have been very difficult for us to break them down.
"The conditions were difficult, with the wind swirling around and the pitch being a bit bobbly.
"It wasn't a great game of football but it was exciting for spells and it's about getting results at this stage of the season.
"It was a scrappy 2-1 win.
"But there was quality in our two finishes and there has to be times when you have to battle and play the style of the opposition.
"As John Gregory said in his own programme notes, QPR have gone a bit more direct than he'd like and I thought we coped with that pretty well.
"We've left with three points and we move on.
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DEAN MACHINE...Hero Kiely keeps out Furlong's penalty |
"We've got to be able to play all sorts of football and it's all about getting results now.
"That's one more game out of the way. We've got six more to go.
"We move onto Stoke next week, another team where we'll have to head the ball in our box.
"It's all about fine margins and I would suggest we've played a lot better than that and lost.
"But the three points were all that mattered today. We ground out a result."
Gera's late winner brought much cheer to the near-3,000 Baggies fans camped behind QPR keeper Lee Camp's goal.
And Mowbray was full of praise for the way Albion's sell-out support got behind his team.
"The support was amazing," he said.
"The away support, in particular, has been fantastic all season.
"They've stuck with the team through some sticky spells when we couldn't win away.
"Today's win is some reward for their loyalty.
"I'm delighted for them the winning goal came at the end of the ground they were sat."
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