Christian Benteke’s hat-trick rescued a crucial point for Aston Villa in a thrilling 3-3 draw with relegation rivals QPR.
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The striker levelled to complete his treble with just seven minutes left after QPR looked to have done enough to climb out of the bottom three and leapfrog Villa.
Clint Hill and Charlie Austin had fired Rangers 3-2 ahead after the break following Benteke’s first-half double.
He had cancelled out Matt Phillips’ opener but the draw did little for either side’s survival hopes. Villa moved three points clear of the Premier League relegation zone while Rangers climbed to third bottom, still two points from safety.
Christian Benteke. Singlehandedly keeping Aston Villa out of relegation zone since 2012. #villa #PremierLeague
— Paul Ruffy (@PaulRuffy) April 7, 2015
Rangers began a breathless first half by opening the scoring after seven minutes. Austin’s cross was not cleared and Bobby Zamora picked up the pieces to centre for Phillips to nod in from six yards.
Yet Villa levelled just 151 seconds later when Fabian Delph played in Benteke and the striker was given too much time to cut in from the left and his shot deflected off Steven Caulker and past Rob Green.
Villa completed their first-half comeback when Benteke grabbed his second after 33 minutes.
Carlos Sanchez’s tackle on the edge of his own box fell to Gabby Agbonlahor to send Benteke clear.
The striker still had to run the length of the half but he cut inside Hill and sent Green the wrong way with a fine finish from 16 yards.
Ten minutes after the break, QPR’s Hill headed in his first Premier League goal from Phillips’ corner.
The teams looked to be running out of steam before conjuring an epic finale when Austin edged Rangers ahead with 12 minutes left.
But Benteke clawed Villa back again five minutes later when he curled in a 25-yard free-kick off the post after Charles N’Zogbia had been felled by Hill.
