ALBION 2 QUEENS PARK RANGERS 2
22 JULY 2020
The strangest season came down to the simplest equation.
On July 22, 2020, attacking the final round of games in the 2019/20 Championship, the Albion had to beat QPR at The Hawthorns in order to secure automatic promotion. Anything less than that, and a win for Brentford at home to Barnsley would see them sneak into second place instead, while defeat might even let Fulham come through.
On home turf, Albion were surely in the box seat, but in this strangest of seasons, now entering its 355th day, nothing was that simple. Playing behind closed doors because of the Covid pandemic, there was no home atmosphere à la Crystal Palace in 2002 to help drag the side over the line. And with nerves jangling after defeat at Huddersfield Town in the penultimate game meant that Albion had taken just one point from nine, nobody was taking anything for granted.
When Ryan Manning gave Rangers a 34th minute lead, there wasn’t quite panic but there was a pretty uneasy feeling in the collective stomach. But what a difference a dozen minutes can make. By the time the side was back in the dressing room at half-time, Grady Diangana had levelled things up for Albion, while a Barnsley goal in the 41st minute meant that the lead to Brentford was now two points. Fulham were even losing at Wigan.
Calum Robinson made it 2-1 just four minutes into the second half, and the Throstles looked home and hosed. But nothing at the Albion is ever that easy and Eberechi Eze levelled it up just on the hour to place things back on a knife edge, all the more so when Brentford found an equaliser of their own on 73.
If things stayed like that, Albion were up. A single goal for a west London side, be it QPR or Brentford, and it would mean the play-offs.
Thankfully, Albion saw the game out, and Brentford were even good enough to concede a late goal to lose to Barnsley and kick the celebrations into gear those few moments earlier.
The Throstles were back in the Premier League.