QPR 1 Aston Villa 1:NEIL WARNOCK stated in the programme for this contest a desire to be "ultra careful" with his comments to the media having, in his opinion, created too many controversial headlines already this year. Well, that lasted long. The QPR manager's tongue was at its acidic best here, unleashing a stream of rage and ridicule towards the referee, Michael Oliver, for the decisions which livened up this stalemate.
At the centre of Warnock’s fury was the penalty with which Aston Villa took the lead. Oliver deemed that Armand Traore had pulled back Gabriel Agbonlahor as he prepared to convert Stephen Warnock’s cross and pointed to the spot. The decision certainly took those in attendance by surprise. Even the away supporters required a few seconds of silence before they broke into cheers.
Barry Bannan converted the penalty for Villa but they, according to their own manager, Alex McLeish, had been “woeful” up to then, especially in the first half when they were unable to exert any pressure against hosts who had pinned them back with their high-pressing approach, creating several scoring chances, the most notable being Adel Taarabt’s curling drive on four minutes that clipped the post.
They deserved an equaliser and until Richard Dunne’s injury-time own-goal it appeared they would not get one, with Warnock convinced his team should have had at least two penalties for handballs by the Villa right-back Alan Hutton.
“I don’t think (Villa’s) penalty would have been a penalty at a lot of grounds and I think we would have got a penalty on certain days. Not one Aston Villa supporter appeals for their penalty,” said Warnock. “Referees should be seen and not heard and it takes away from our performance - we were superb.” Those comments were made to Sky Sports immediately after the final whistle and in an unusual move Warnock returned to the cameras moments later.
“How has the linesman not seen that? He (Hutton) deliberately handballs it,” said Warnock in a noticeably more agitated state.
Down to 10 men, QPR looked set for a third defeat of the season, an unjust reward for a committed and eye-catching display. But then Warnock’s clearance of Heidar Helguson’s cross hit Dunne and trickled into the net to secure the hosts’ first goal here this season.
