West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Queens Park Rangers: Nat Phillips scores winner for Baggies
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between West Bromwich Albion and Queens Park Rangers at The Hawthorns on Monday; Nat Phillips scores much-needed winner for Baggies.
Monday 29 December 2025 23:18, UK
Set-piece headers from defenders George Campbell and Nat Phillips gave West Brom a welcome 2-1 Championship home win over QPR.
Four defeats in five had led to sections of Albion fans being unhappy with head coach Ryan Mason.
But Campbell's first goal in English football then Phillips's first at the Hawthorns gave Albion a richly deserved victory.
Ousmane Diakite's 35th-minute own goal pegged Albion back until Phillips restored their lead 10 minutes after the break.
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QPR, who had won five of their last eight, hit the woodwork through Kwame Poku in the second half.
But it was an isolated attack from the visitors as an urgent-looking Albion created more chances after the break.
Albion created the initial half chances, with Samuel Iling-Junior missing an overhead kick from close range then Mikey Johnston blazing over at the end of the same move.
Campbell also had a looping header deflected over for the hosts from almost on the goalline from Callum Styles' corner.
Campbell nodded Albion in front, meeting another Styles corner with a towering leap at the far post.
QPR equalised with their first serious attack - and there was an element of controversy about the goal.
Koki Saito went down under what appeared minimal contact from Campbell as the winger ran out of space in front of the touchline.
And from the resulting free-kick, Nicolas Madsen's delivery was headed goalwards by Jimmy Dunne and the ball hit Diakite to beat Joe Wildsmith.
QPR threatened first after the break, as Poku's curling attempt hit the top of the crossbar and bounced over after a jinking run on the right.
But Phillips restored Albion's lead with a towering header from eight yards as he met Johnston's curling free-kick.
Albion thought they had scored a third when Aune Heggebo and Karlan Grant both slid in to get on the end of Johnston's low cross in the 64th minute. The ball ended up in the net but the flag went up for offside.
Grant's deflected low drive off Kieran Morgan was smothered by goalkeeper Ben Hamer as the hosts continued to probe for a third goal.
The busy Grant fired over from a tight angle after being teed up by substitute Josh Maja, then was denied by Hamer's save to his left from another angled drive.
Grant was denied again at the death when his goalbound effort was blocked by substitute Isaac Hayden.
But the missed chances did not prove to be costly as the Baggies comfortably held on.
The managers
West Brom's Ryan Mason:
"Set-pieces are important. We have changed what we have done in the last 13 or 14 games while sticking to our principles.
"The lads have been really consistent and buying into it, and in the last 10 or so games we have looked more dangerous. That's something we need to try to continue doing.
"It's down to discipline and consistency with certain things. Deliveries have improved and the buy-in and the belief has been there.
"You get belief when you have success, and we've had relative success in the last couple of months from our set-plays."
QPR's Julien Stephan:
"You saw they had players who could carry the ball 45, 50 metres and we don't have those kind of strengths. It was a very tight game in the first half with many opportunities for both sides, especially from set-pieces.
"But the turning point was early in the second half when Kwame Poku hit the crossbar, because the momentum of the game could have changed completely. The crowd could have changed.
"Afterwards we conceded from a second set-piece, and there were too many of those in this game for us. We tried to bring on some fresh players in the last 25 minutes - the plan was to bring on some quality to make a difference.
"We produced some crosses but we didn't manage to succeed to finish the situations."
