West Brom strengthened their claim for an automatic promotion spot with a hard fought 3-2 victory against QPR last night.

They led twice and were pegged back twice, before Jake Livermore popped up with a late winner.

It leaves them firmly in the hunt for a Premier League return this summer, with a huge clash against Sheffield United on the horizon.

The Baggies have won three of their last four matches, with the other result being their controversial 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest. It's left them in a great position, but as the clock ran down on January 31st, they would have had real cause for concern.

They missed out on two key deals in the dying embers of the frantic deadline day. The well-publicised collapse of a move for left back Bryan Oviedo has been common knowledge for a while, the Costa Rican international was at the Hawthorns and keen to sign, but it didn't happen.

It's now been revealed that they were also involved in an audacious swoop for Manchester United prospect Scott McTominay, another deal they couldn't quite get over the line.

Whilst over at Leeds United a deal was collapsing, Darren Moore must have feared the worst for his side too. He needed the extra push to get his boys into the top two and in front of his very eyes, the big deals were falling by the wayside.

He must have been panicking as he sat in his office, but late moves for Jefferson Montero, Jacob Murphy and Stefan Johansen all came off. The latter, probably a player signed when the McTominay deal fell through.

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Driving home from the ground that evening Moore will have had mixed feelings.

He lost Harvey Barnes in the window, then failed in swoops for two players who could have had an impact at the Hawthorns.

Right now, the collapse of the key moves isn't proving fatal to their promotion push, but on that cold January evening Darren Moore wouldn't have known that at all.

He'll be a relieved man to see two of his three new signings turning defeat into victory last night.