Queens Park Rangers snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw against Aston Villa when Richard Dunne scored an own-goal in stoppage-time at Loftus Road on Sunday.
Neil Warnock’s side looked set to suffer a controversial defeat when Villa took the lead through Barry Bannan’s spot-kick after referee Michael Oliver harshly penalized Armand Traore for a tug on Gabriel Agbonlahor.
QPR felt they should have had a penalty of their own when Shaun Derry’s goal-bound header hit Alan Hutton on the arm, but Oliver and his assistants failed to spot the offense.
Photo: Reuters
Oliver then sent off Traore in the closing moments for a second booking, but QPR rescued a point when Dunne turned Heidar Helguson’s cross into his own net.
Villa’s failure to hold onto their lead means Alex McLeish’s side have now drawn five of their six Premier League games this season, while QPR remain level with their opponents on eight points.
Warnock was furious with Oliver’s performance.
Photo: Reuters
“I’ve had a look at our penalty appeals again and I think the statisticians have put the first Alan Hutton one down as a save. How can he not give it?” Warnock asked. “He can’t say he’s in a bad position. My boys deserve better than that. As for the penalty he gave? It’s embarrassing. Armand has blown on him. Referees should be seen and not heard, and the official made it all about him, which is a shame because he took away from what was a good performance from us.”
McLeish said: “I had to tell my players a few home truths at halftime because in the first half we were poor, very poor. I let them know that in no uncertain terms and sure enough we came out a lot better in the second half.”
Although Villa were able to count British Prime Minister David Cameron among their supporters at Loftus Road, even the presence of such a famous fan could not inspire McLeish’s team in the early stages.
QPR made a fast start and went close to taking the lead in the fifth minute as Adel Taarabt cleverly worked space for a well-struck effort from long-range that beat Shay Given, but cannoned back off a post.
There was a real purpose about QPR’s attacking play and both Shaun Wright-Phillips and Taarabt had close-range shots blocked in a 14th-minute melee.
McLeish’s men almost snatched the lead against the run of play when Bannan’s curling free-kick forced a superb one-handed save from Paddy Kenny just before halftime.
However, Villa did take the lead in the 58th minute when Oliver ruled that former Arsenal defender Traore had deliberately pushed Agbonlahor as they challenged for a cross.
Bannan stepped up to fire home the penalty and the Scottish midfielder nearly grabbed his second goal when Kenny made a good stop to keep out his near-post effort.
A low shot from Wright-Phillips forced Given into an excellent save, before Derry’s header from a corner hit Hutton on the arm.
When Tommy Smith’s appeal for a penalty, again for a Hutton handball, was rejected by Oliver, who then sent off Traore for a lunge on Marc Albrighton, it seemed as though QPR’s luck was out, but they equalized in the third minute of stoppage-time when Helguson’s cross was cleared by Stephen Warnock into Dunne, who could not stop the ball rebounding off him into the net.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to