Signing off
After today’s highly entertaining match, one final look at what’s ahead in the relegation battles for both sides. Onward!
Full-time: Aston Villa 3-3 QPR
That was fun! Six goals, a hat trick by Benteke, back-and-forth action for practically the full 90 minutes – though neither side will be overly pleased with the point given their precarious situations. Villa now climb above Hill City into 16th place, while QPR climb one spot to 18th.
90+4 min: Phillips brings down Agbonlahor, giving Villa a free-kick opportunity on their half of the pitch. Likely the last kick of the game.
90+3 min: A cross into the box finds Joe Cole, who somehow redirects it toward net at angle defying Euclid, but misses the mark just wide.
90 min: The fourth official indicates there will be four minutes of added time.
88 min: The ball falls to Benteke in the area and he very nearly drills it home for a fourth, but the one-time shot sails high above the crossbar.
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86 min: Free idea. (Thank Jeff Woodman, who submitted it via email.)
“There should be a Sherwood-Cam in the upper right corner of my TV. Feel free to patent that in England.”
85 min: Another near miss in the box from Agbonlahor, who is a split-second behind Cole’s well-played cross.
GOAL! Aston Villa 3-3 QPR (Benteke, 83 min)
Hill brings down N’Zogbia just outside the area and is show yellow, giving Villa a crucial free-kick opportunity. Benteke, already on two goals, steps up to take it – and his attempt caroms off left post into the net. A hat trick for the Belgian and Aston Villa are back on level terms with QPR. Brilliant individual performance tonight.
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81 min: Last substitution of the match for Villa as Charles N’Zogbia enters for Tom Cleverley.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-3 QPR (Austin, 78 min)
Silence at Villa Park as Phillips delivers a low cross to Austin in the heart of the area. He takes a single touch before blasting it past Guzan to give QPR a crucial 3-2 lead. Timmy Sherwood does not look pleased.
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76 min: A high challenge from Bacuna on Barton might have drawn a card, but the referee declines to intervene.
74 min: And Lowton replaces Bacuna as the action has gone flat here.
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70 min: A substitution for Villa as Cole spells Grealish, who showed great promise today. For QPR, Michael Doughty replaces Sandro.
Nathan Walsh from Nashville offers up an outside perspective:
I’m watching this game as a diehard Newcastle fan hoping that QPR pick up the three points. Perversely I’d like to see Newcastle barely stay up after an uncomfortable end to the season. This might sound astonishing but I reckon that most Newcastle fans agree. We want Mike Ashley to realize that he is flirting with danger the way he is running the club and that John Carver isn’t the man for the job. I’m also hoping we get smashed by Liverpool as I’d enjoy seeing pompous Manchester City in the Europa League. The smashing is nearly inevitable as our only available defenders for Liverpool are Mike Williamson, Ryan Taylor, and an injured Daryl Janmaat. Should be an entertaining watch.
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67 min: Villa dominating possession now but having trouble making the final pass. Just now Vlaar’s lobbed pass to Benteke in the area missed the mark. Still, advantage hosts.
64 min: A nice save by Guzan off a low shot by Austin. Pace has slowed a bit but sense persists that more goals are inevitable.
61 min: Surging run up the left flank by Cleverley, but his cross into the box is just out of Agbonlahor’s reach.
57 min: Charlie Austin is shown yellow for a high challenge on Sanchez.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-2 QPR (Hill, 55 min)
Phillips’ hard-won corner pays off as he delivers perfect service for an onrushing Clint Hill, who smashes a header past Guzan. Remarkably, it’s the first ever Premier League goal for QPR’s 36-year-old captain.
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54 min: Phillips runs into the box from the right flank and tries to cross – it’s deflected back his way and he motions to the referee for a hand ball that’s not given – but he persists with the play and wins a corner.
52 min: First substitutions of the match as Karl Henry comes on for Niko Kranjcar. Also, Armand Traoré in for Mauricio Isla.
48 min: Benteke finds Bacuna on the right wing but it’s intercepted by QPR, who move into counter-attack.
46 min: Second half is underway and Villa wastes no time, with Agbonlahor scurrying down the left flank and sending in a cross that Caulker heads clear.
More thoughts on Sherwood
- From Tim Whelan: “Nothing personal against QPR but I now want Villa to score at least 3 more in order to find out how many layers of grey Sherwood’s got on there.”
- From Rob Edwards: “I’m reliably informed Tim Sherwood has promised to shed a piece of clothing for each goal Villa score this evening. Only catch is he has to do it in the angriest way possible. True football fans will be richly rewarded if Villa score 6 or more.”
- From Jon Hill: “I am an enormous Villa fan - following them for 25 years. Most of me desperately wants them to stay in the Premier league, as I fear we could do a Wednesday and sink like a stone. But the other part of me things...what an insufferable, smug bell-end Sherwood will be if he keeps us up. What with the whole 60% win ratio bummery - it would just be too much.”
Half-time: Aston Villa 2-1 QPR
“Glad Everton haven’t put me through matches like this one for years,” writes Gary Naylor on Twitter, “but by God they’re exciting if you’ve a dog in the fight.”
A seventh-minute header by Matt Phillips gave QPR an early advantage, by Christian Benteke’s right-footed strike in the 10th leveled the score and Benteke’s calm finish in the 33rd put the hosts ahead entering the break.
A look at the half-time stats:
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45 min: A free kick for QPR in a dangerous position just outside the area, but Joey Barton’s curling offering lofts harmlessly into Guzan’s hands. The fourth official indicates there will be two minutes of stoppage time.
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43 min: Another seemingly dangerous cross from Bacuna, but it’s easily collected by Green.
41 min: Villa keep knocking and it seems half-time can’t come soon enough for QPR. This time it’s Agbonlahor, who’s header off a pass from Bacuna beats Green but sails wide.
Now some thoughts on Sherwood ripping his coat off:
- From Matthew Drake: “I can’t stop watching that Tim Sherwood clip. Underneath his jacket he has.....another jacket? Is he like one of those Russian dolls?”
- From John Tumbridge: “Is it wrong to snigger when he is referred to as Timothy Sherwood; is there any one in football called Timothy?”
38 min: QPR win a corner. Phillips’ attempt finds Calker but it’s headed wide of the mark.
36 min: Two yellow cards here. Sandro is shown yellow for his challenge on Agbonlahor during the build-up to the goal. Kranjcar for a clattering challenge on Cleverley that gives Villa a free kick. It’s nearly cleared, by not before Sanchez puts a shot on net that’s deflected.
Goal! Aston Villa 2-1 QPR (Benteke, 33 min)
QPR is dispossessed around midfield and Agbonlahor immediately finds Benteke, who slaloms past Hill, wrong-foots the keeper and slots home the go-ahead goal. What a composed finish by the Belgian.
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29 min: Jeff Woodman asks for thoughts on Timmy Sherwood firing off his jacket after Villa scored. I’ll open it up to the gallery.
27 min: What an opportunity for Benteke, who nearly puts Villa ahead. This time it was Bacuna making a run with the ball before finding the Belgian near the back post. His header beats the outstretched Green, but soars just above the crossbar – perhaps aided by a deflection?
25 min: Another Villa corner, another clearance.
Karl Ruben Weseth reaches out with some unsolicited crit for Villa fans: “I wish the Villa supporters would realise how ill-suited the ‘Seven Nation Army’ melody is to Christian Benteke’s name. Just try it yourself; all those closed vowels sound crap compared to, say the Gooners’ Santi Cazorla variant. And before you ask, yes, I’m thrilled that I chose to study musicology at uni.”
23 min: Sandro is down after taking a boot to the head during a scuffle for the ball that ended with Delph’s shot deflecting off a QPR player for a corner kick. The corner is low and quickly cleared to midfield.
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19 min: A cross at midfield to Bacuna who runs up the right side, cuts back toward the center of the field and fires a shot that soars high and wide. The fast, furious pace shows no sign of slowing as the 20-minute mark draws near.
17 min: And just like that Villa are on the attack. Nice interplay up the left side ends with a cross to Grealish in the area, but Green intervenes in the nick of time. A nice play by the keeper.
16 min: Kranjcar runs with the ball up the left side, meets indecision on the edge of the area before firing a low, left-footed shot that’s easily corraled by Guzan.
15 min: QPR win a free kick, but Kranjcar’s attempt soars over the target for a goal kick.
12 min: More back and forth action and the teams exchange possession up and down the pitch.
Will Oliver, a Villa fan in Dixie, checks in: “QPR must be punished for that appalling white patch on the back of a hooped jersey. Red numbers on blue hoops would have kept them up this season, I reckon. It’s aesthetics or nothing down here at the bottom of the league.”
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 QPR (Benteke, 10 min)
And just like that Villa equalize. Delph to Benteke who runs up the left side and uncoils a shot that’s deflected off Isla into the net. The goals are less than three minutes apart. Have a sense from this frenetic pace they won’t be the only ones we see today.
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9 min: A low cross from Bacuna is barely cleared with Agbonlahor surging in. A positive start early.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 QPR (Phillips, 7 min)
With the ball in the Villa area and not cleared effectively, Zamora is allowed to turn and finds a surging Phillips toward the back post who heads it home. Poor defending and an easy finish.
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6 min: A nice play by Villa as Grealish, making his first start, fires a nice through pass to Cleverley, who crosses to to Benteke at the far post. Benteke is offsides but nice interplay early from the hosts.
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3 min: Sloppy start for both sides. First free kick of the match to Aston Villa: Delph’s attempt toward the edge of the area falls to Benteke, but the volley attempt is scuff wide of target.
1 min: And we’re off! Aston Villa in the familiar home kits attacking from left to right, QPR in the classic royal blue and white-hooped strip.
Not much longer now
The players are out of the tunnel. Kickoff any minute now.
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Sock it to me
Asks JR in Illinois: “What’s the deal with Grealish’s socks? Is he asking to get kicked or do opposing players not think like that? I saw Hull kick the crap out of him in the third week and wondered if maybe that was the reason.”
Not sure but I recall Alexander Hleb used to wear them the same way. Seems like an unnecessary risk, but I’m neither a world class footballer nor a sartorial trendsetter.
The walking wounded
Here’s a look at the laundry list of injuries dogging both of today’s sides.
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A perfectly reasonable question
Writes Sid Ward: “If this game is sooooo big why aint it on tele? As a Villa fan I’m gutted.”
As you likely know, the match was moved from 20 April due to Villa’s participation in the FA Cup semi-final. Fortunately it’s being televised in the US, which is why I’ve been enlisted for live commentary duties.
The teams!
The sides will be getting ready to walk out shortly and the game should be underway in 10 minutes. Here are today’s starters.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Vlaar, Clark, Richardson, Cleverley, Delph (c), Sanchez, Grealish, Agbonlahor, Benteke
QPR: Green, Isla, Onuoha, Caulker, Hill, Phillips, Sandro, Barton (c), Kranjcar, Austin, Zamora
Referee: Craig Pawson
TEAM SHEET: What do you make of tonight's #ASTvQPR team news? Cast your score prediction here; http://t.co/6IQEfMISl0 pic.twitter.com/1y9DVRq4sZ
— QPR FC (@QPRFC) April 7, 2015
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Preamble
A six-pointer at Villa Park today with the hosts at 17th in the table and three points ahead of 19th-place Queens Park Rangers.
Said Villa manager Tim Sherwood to the BBC: “I think this is the biggest game that a lot of these players have ever played for this football club
“This is without doubt the biggest game of the season for Villa and possibly one of the biggest in a number of years and this is the biggest of my managerial career.
So that’s something. Team news forthcoming.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a little something on QPR’s battle with relegation:
Joleon Lescott must have thought he had the situation under control. The West Bromwich Albion defender had been surprised at first by the pace of Bobby Zamora as they chased after a long ball, but he still appeared to be in a position that would allow him to shepherd the Queens Park Rangers striker away from goal. The angle was tight, the ball was on Zamora’s weaker right foot and even the QPR fans at The Hawthorns were probably not expecting too much. There were two minutes left until half-time and their side had already defied expectations by racing into a 2-0 lead.
What happened next was extraordinary. Perhaps realising that he was not quick enough to burst away from Lescott again, Zamora improvised, using the outside of his trusty left foot to strike the ball early and send a beautiful lob spinning over the head of the stranded Boaz Myhill. Three-nil, game over and QPR were on their way to a precious 4-1 victory that has revitalised their hopes of staying up.
On a weekend of stunning goals, Zamora’s effort was arguably the best. It had the chutzpah of Charlie Adam’s 65-yard missile against Chelsea, the touch and technique of Wayne Rooney’s swivelling volley against Aston Villa and the did-that-actually-just-happen quality of Jermain Defoe’s winner for Sunderland against Newcastle United, and above all it was a gloriously subtle goal, instinct combining with a clear thought-process to devastating effect. Although Zamora did not back his body in a sprint, he was still a step ahead of Lescott and Myhill, his mind moving faster than his opponents. It was a goal that left Ruud Gullit comparing him to Lionel Messi on Match of the Day.
Gullit’s giddy astonishment was understandable. Veteran strikers who have seen better days are not supposed to score goals this good and when they do there is a temptation to regard it as a flash in the pan, a fluke even, more luck than judgment. Enjoy it while it lasts, Bobby, but you’ll never do it again.
