N'Zobia and Bent

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Aston Villa 2-2 QPR

Aston Villa mounted a stirring comeback on home turf against QPR, but failed to bring an end to their miserable winless run at home.

Villa started the game brightly, Alan Hutton swinging a promising cross into the box that just floated over the head of Robbie Keane, but it was the away side who grabbed the opening goal after just 12 minutes.

Surprisingly for some of the more cynical QPR fans, it was new signing Djibril Cisse, not always the most popular man in the Premier League, who showed his class by opening up his body before smashing the ball against the back of the net.

The home side missed a couple of half chances to equalise shortly after, Paddy Kenny saving from Darren Bent and Ciaran Clark, but despite edging the possession statistics, Villa remained toothless in attack, lacking the width needed to create clear chances in the final third.

QPR took full advantage of Villa’s aimless attacking play, forcing Stephen Warnock into grabbing a bizarre and embarrassing own goal.

With nobody in a QPR shirt around him in the box, the defender nevertheless opted to head the ball into the back of the net from a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross.

Villa were in need of inspiration from somewhere, and just before half time they found it, Bent sticking out a leg at the near post to direct Alan Hutton’s cross on target.

As the second half got underway, Villa added a further sting to their comeback, pushing forward in numbers, and Kenny was called into action early on to clear a shot from Stilian Petrov off the line.

A flurry of chances from the home side, and most notably Bent and Keane, were kept out by a combination of Kenny and Lady Luck, until the 79th minute, when a moment of class from Charles N’Zogbia pulled Villa level.

The former Wigan man was left unmarked at the back post and made no mistake in slamming a powerful effort past Kenny from a Petrov cross.

Villa had their chance to win the game at the death, Bent seeing another attempt cleared off the line before Warnock, trying to make amends for his miserable own goal, shot high over the bar just before the final whistle.