Steve Clarke: West Brom deserved to beat QPR

Steve Clarke was reluctant to be drawn into a debate regarding contentious refereeing decisions after seeing West Bromwich Albion beat Queens Park Rangers 2-1.

The Baggies enjoyed a Boxing Day boost at Loftus Road, with victory in the capital keeping them on the fringes of the Premier League's top four.

While Clarke believes his side did enough to warrant all three points, big calls did go their way. 

QPR boss Harry Redknapp was left fuming at the match officials come the final whistle, with the decision to award West Brom their second goal when Robert Green appeared to have been impeded by Marc-Antoine Fortune seeing him lose his cool. 

Giving his take on the incident, Clarke told Sky Sports: "Marc didn't do a lot wrong, he stood his ground and Rob didn't get around him, made a mistake and it was a goal to us. 

"I don't think that should deflect away from the gulf there was between the two teams at stages during the game. The first half was quite even, we got our noses in front, but we looked like the team playing with confidence and QPR are the team that is struggling. We passed the ball well and had some half chances. 

"We played good stuff and the start of the second half I thought we were tremendous, we opened the game up and QPR had to come at us. We made a number of chances to make the game 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 and it could have been over before QPR got the goal which made it a little bit more nervous for us towards the end." 

Clarke also felt that referee Chris Foy was right to wave away a late penalty shout against Liam Ridgewell, with Redknapp and QPR of the opinion that he had handled inside the box. 

Clarke added: "When you are down the bottom, you are going to shout for every decision. Every manager is entitled to shout for it but I think you can't give it, it's impossible for the referee to give that. Liam has jumped, the guy has headed it from about one yard away, it has hit Liam's arm, but it was heading towards his face anyway and it wasn't as if he gained an advantage by using his arm. 

"I don't want to talk about controversial decisions, I want to talk about how good my team is and how well we have done at the halfway stage of the season." 

While West Brom are delighted to have added another three points to their impressive tally, they did see Goran Popov limp off during the first-half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. 

Clarke said: "We'll asses all of the injuries tomorrow. We have got people ready to go in. We have got a few players who have waited a long time to get in, and if they get in for a few games then they deserve their chance."

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Source: SkySports