West Bromwich Albion returned to the top of the Championship table after coming from behind to defeat Birmingham City in the west Midlands derby.

The Baggies have now been handed a two-point lead from Leeds United who endured a late collapse at home to Cardiff City.

Slaven Bilic's move to introduce Charlie Austin paid dividends as the substitute's two goals in eight minutes stunned the Blues at St Andrew's.

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Grady Diangana pegged back Lukas Jutkiewicz early in the first half before being forced off through injury, then just after the break, Harlee Dean scored what appeared to be a questionable second for the home side.

But Austin tied things up with an outrageous half-volley from outside the penalty area before heading in the winner nine minutes from time.

Despite picking up all three points, several of the travelling support weren't best pleased by the performance of left-back Conor Townsend with many taking to social media to slam him.

'Shocking,' 'liability' and 'clueless' were just three words used to describe his showing while one supporter went as far as saying that he never wants to see the 26-year-old play for the club ever again.

Another suggested that the defender was 'full of mistakes' while 'league one player' was a further indictment on his performance.

Some couldn't believe that Townsend was starting above Darnell Furlong...

The left-back has only made eight appearances in the Championship this season with Kieran Gibbs the first choice in the role, but with the former Arsenal man absent through injury, Townsend was gifted a rare opportunity.

Many seem to believe that the better option is to put Nathan Ferguson in the role, thus allowing Furlong at right-back.

That will be something Bilic can ponder over the course of the following week before they host Brentford at the Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon.

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In other news, Luke Dowling's controversial decision last season is starting to be fully vindicated...