QPR manager Mark Warburton was quick to emphasise the depth of his squad after substitute Charlie Austin scored a late winner against West Brom on Saturday.

Last week Austin was himself substituted during the FA Cup penalty shootout win over Rotherham, but this time around came on to great effect, scoring against his former club with just a minute of normal time remaining.

The game looked to be heading for a goalless draw until the Rangers’ forward flicked home a wonderful Chris Willock cross to give Warburton’s team three crucial points.

While Austin didn’t look happy when withdrawn the previous week, his manager was keen to point out the importance of a deep squad when fighting at the top end of the Championship.

“That was the plan (to bring him on towards the end),” Warburton said after the win.

“Many, many times Charlie (Austin) has to start a game and get battered for 60 or 70 minutes, before someone gets on and takes advantage of the fact that he has taken the pace out of the game.

“Today Charlie did that. Lyndon (Dykes) and Andre (Gray) put a shift in and had a lot to put up with themselves.

“Then Charlie came in and stole the show with that vital goal.

“But it’s about the whole squad, Dom Ball came on for the last few minutes and did a really vital job for us.

“We’ve got Luke Amos and Andre Dozzell, George Thomas and young Joe Walsh in goal on the bench, and these guys have all played a huge part this week.

“But this is the Championship. It is relentless and we have to make sure that when we get injuries, suspensions and have to change it, that we have good options.”

Austin’s goal saw the R’s leapfrog opponents West Brom and move up to fourth in the Championship table.

And although it took until the 89th minute for Rangers to find a decisive goal against their fellow play-off challengers, the manager still believed his team were good value for the win, even after a slow start.

Warburton added: “I just felt in the first 20 minutes we showed them a little bit too much respect, we were a little bit loose on the ball.

“We felt we could turn them around quickly and you saw their keeper David Button starting really high – we felt we could exploit that.

“In the second half, we were better. We’re a good team when we take care of the football.

“When we hurt them with bodies into the box. We upped the tempo slightly and picked up the first contact well.

“To a man, we did our jobs right the way through and I felt we deserved it.

“That wasn’t a lucky three points or a lucky, breakaway goal. We dominated the second half I felt, against a very good team. It’s a tremendous three points.

“Fourth feels very good but we have to move on, we have a very tough test coming up (against Coventry) All we can control and worry about, is what QPR do.”