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West Brom boss Alan Irvine said he was not too surprised that Charlie Austin was a dominant force in the Baggies' 3-2 loss to QPR on Saturday. Austin's hat trick prevent Irvine's men from picking up a second win inside a week, and the Scotsman revealed that he'd been tracking the QPR star for years. "When I was manager of Sheffield Wednesday [in the 2010-11 season] I wanted to sign him," Irvine said. "I recognised the ability he had at that time, I didn't know how far he would be able to go but as a League One player he was certainly capable of playing in the Championship and beyond that. He is a player I have been aware of for a long time." Irvine felt the penalty decision, awarded by referee Chris Pawson after he deemed that James Morrison had pulled back Leroy Fer inside the box, could easily have gone unpunished. "It was soft," he said. "The referee had a decision to make, I'm not sure they are given every week but it has been given this week. Even if it had been for my side I would have thought it was a bit soft but you are delighted to take it and I'm sure Harry is. "We didn't surrender the lead, we lost it. It was bitterly disappointing because I felt for the majority of the game we were the better team. We created a lot of chances and controlled the game. It is a lot harder to lift them up if you play badly and we didn't play badly."
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