While Benteke entertains on the field, Tim Sherwood is certainly putting on a show of his own on the sidelines.
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Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers met on Tuesday evening for a fiercely contested relegation scrap, but despite both teams desperately chasing a vital three points, the points were shared in a 3-3 thriller.
Early on, QPR looked like they would run away with the game, scoring after just six minutes thanks to a close-range header from Matthew Phillips.
However, the Villans found some relief when Christian Benteke – their leading scorer – brought the team back in with an equaliser less than five minutes later.
The always entertaining Villa manager Tim Sherwood could not contain himself and practically jumped out of his gilet, ripping it off and throwing it away in delight at his striker’s response.
If Sherwood had a second gilet he would soon have tossed that one away too, for after 33 minutes, thanks to another strike from Benteke, Aston Villa led for the first time in the match.
Unfortunately for the Villa Park outfit, trying so hard to gain some distance from the bottom three having never been relegated from the Premier League, the second half was much less enjoyable.
Clint Hill quickly scored a beautifully directed header from Phillips’ cross to bring QPR level again.
Rangers took a 3-2 lead after 77 minutes thanks to a Charlie Austin strike – with the assist once again coming from Matthew Phillips – and with less than 15 minutes left it seemed like Rangers would take this one. Tim Sherwood’s men were close to sinking into that dreaded relegation zone.
But the Villans would not go down easy – and did not go down at all – as Christian Benteke’s wonderfully executed free kick completed his hat-trick. The Belgian curled the ball into the bottom left corner completed the scoring, with the game ending 3-3.
With the draw, both teams move up one spot in the rankings – Villa from 17th to 16th and QPR from 19th to 18th.
The Villans’ next match will be against Tim Sherwood’s old club Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane this coming Saturday. Spurs are ranked 6th but are coming off a draw with 19th ranked Burnley, so Villa may feel they can pull off a result – especially given their manager’s close connection.
QPR face a tough test against title hopefuls Chelsea this Sunday – but they will at least have home advantage.
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