Spirited Rangers draw with Man City
QPR 2 Manchester City 2
Sergio Aguero’s late equaliser denied QPR a win which would have lifted them out of the bottom three.
Aguero levelled after Rangers had taken a first-half lead through Charlie Austin’s sixth goal of the season.
And the Argentine struck again after Martin Demichelis, under pressure from Bobby Zamora, had headed Austin’s 76th-minute cross into his own net.
Nevertheless, Harry Redknapp’s team were again unrecognisable from the side which were much critcised in the opening weeks of the season, producing another committed display in an incident-packed game.
Austin’s 21st-minute opener came after he had already found the net twice only to be denied a goal in bizarre circumstances.
He was offside when he headed in from Eduardo Vargas’ right-wing cross.
And from the resulting free-kick, City keeper Joe Hart appeared to change his mind as he struck the ball and inexplicably gave it straight to the striker, who duly fired in from 20 yards.
However, because Hart had touched the ball twice as he made a mess of the kick, referee Mike Dean spared his blushes by ordering it to be retaken.
Austin was then denied by a superb point-blank save from Hart after Zamora had laid the ball into his path.
But Austin is nothing if not persistent and, shortly the home fans had appealed in vain for a penalty after Bacary Sagna appeared to handle, the Rangers talisman got the goal he deserved.
Maurico Isla cut in from the right, going past Gael Clichy in the process, and found Austin, who controlled before belting home in emphatic fashion.
But City hit back nine minutes later and again there was controversy.
Aguero brought down Eliaquim Mangala’s long punt nicely but the ball then struck the forward’s hand before he slotted past Rob Green.
City, who started the match nine points behind title rivals Chelsea following the Blues’ win at Liverpool earlier in the day, almost went ahead when Yaya Toure’s first-time shot drifted narrowly wide.
And at the other end Austin brought another save from Hart, who palmed away his right-footed drive just before the break.
The second half was relatively uneventful before Rangers regained the lead and first Richard Dunne and then Steven Caulker cleared off the line only for Aguero to eventually score again.
Dunne came to the rescue after an error by the fit-again Joey Barton, who had replaced Sandro at half-time.
Barton attempted to head a kick from Green back to him and Aguero was able to pounce on the ball and round the Rangers keeper, but he found himself at a tricky angle and Dunne was able to clear his shot.
When Caulker headed James Milner’s header out from underneath the bar, Rangers were within sight of a fantastic result.
But Aguero remained a threat and after collecting Toure’s pass he evaded Dunne before finishing nicely.
QPR: Green, Isla, Caulker, Dunne, Yun, Vargas, Sando (Barton 45), Henry, Fer, Zamora, Austin.
Subs not used: McCarthy, Hill, Phillips, Onuoha, Kranjcar, Hoilett.
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