Charlie Austin scored twice to lift Queens Park Rangers off the bottom of the Premier League with a 2-0 home win against Aston Villa on Monday.
Manager Harry Redknapp was under pressure after his struggling side had won just once in their opening eight games, but a goal in either half from Austin helped lighten the mood at Loftus Road.
Aston Villa, beaten in their past five games without scoring a goal, started brightly, but Austin calmed the home fans’ nerves when he lashed a half-volley into the corner on 17 minutes.
Photo: Reuters
As the visitors went in search of an equalizer, the QPR striker struck again after 69 minutes with a deft side-footed finish inside Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s near post from an Eduardo Vargas cross.
The win lifted Redknapp’s side to 19th on seven points, ahead of Burnley on four, while Villa dropped to 15th in the table with their search for a league goal now extending to more than eight hours.
“It was an excellent performance,” Redknapp told Sky Sports. “There’s no reason why Charlie Austin can’t score a lot of goals this season, I’m pleased for the lad.”
Photo: Reuters
“There’s nothing in the league in terms of points,” Redknapp added. “We’re only four points behind Hull [City] in 10th.”
Villa played last season’s top five league teams in consecutive fixtures, enduring a miserable run of four straight defeats, but any hopes of picking up easy points at QPR were soon dispelled.
All of QPR’s points this season have come at home and they proved to be difficult opposition again for Paul Lambert’s side.
Scenes of jubilation from the home fans were in stark contrast to Lambert’s men, who must be wondering where their next league goal is coming from. Prolific marksman Christian Benteke made only his second start since March, but drew a blank as Villa’s inability to score became almost farcical.
The visitors started like a team determined to get back to the winning ways that had seen them reach as high as second in the table in the opening weeks of the season. However, the hosts turned the tide when Bobby Zamora nodded a long ball to the area for Austin to finish.
Ciaran Clark nearly equalized after the restart when Benteke headed down to the defender, but he failed to apply the finish only meters from Robert Green’s goal.
To compound Villa’s miseries Austin quickly made it 2-0, making the miss even more costly.
Vargas nearly added a third when substitute Junior Hoilett put him through on goal, but the Chilean fired straight at Guzan. Villa’s on-loan midfielder Tom Cleverley nearly ended their wait for a goal with 10 minutes to go, but Green parried his volley and Sandro made a tackle from Clark at the rebound.
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