In preparation for the Aston Villa meeting on Sunday, we’re heading back to 1990 when Don Howe’s QPR fought out an entertaining draw with the title chasing Midlanders.
When these two sides met in March 1990 for a midweek game under the lights at Loftus Road the circumstances were markedly different from those both clubs presently find themselves in.
Villa were flying, top of the First Division with ten games of the season to go and looking like a decent title bet.
QPR were midtable, but their post-Christmas form following the departure of Trevor Francis and the appointment of Don Howe was excellent. The Villa match was one of a clutch of four home games in quick succession that also included victories against Arsenal and Spurs, and a memorable 2-2 cup draw with Liverpool. Howe had spent £1m on Roy Wegerle from Luton and the skilful striker was right at the heart of a fantastic display against the league leaders.
The R’s were forced to repel an early onslaught from their visitors with even the might of Alan McDonald at the heart of the defence not proving enough to combat a typically physical Villa strike force of Tony Cascarino and Ian Ormondroyd put together by manager Graham Taylor. Ormondroyd tried his luck first, powerfully heading a corner towards the Loft End goal, but David Seaman was in decent touch and made the save.
At the other end, David Bardsley successfully beat Nigel Spink with a powerful driven effort after a corner had been cleared out to him on the far side of the penalty area, but the ball rebounded back into play off the post.
QPR, guided around the park by Ray Wilkins who’d signed earlier in the season from Glasgow Rangers, were left to curse the woodwork again before half time as Wegerle ghosted past two defenders and teed up Simon Barker for a first time shot from 20 yards that was struck powerfully, deflected over Spink off the outstretched boot of Paul McGrath, and landed plum on top of the cross bar with the keeper well beaten.
Both teams upped the tempo in a blistering start to the second half that could have easily brought three or four goals in the first seven minutes. Seaman was at his brilliant best to deny Ormondroyd from point blank range as the leggy target man trundled through on goal, and then McGrath fired high into the upper School End after Cascarino had nodded a corner from Gordon Cowans down into the Irish international defender’s path.
But Rangers had been the better team in the first period and made their superiority count when Andy Sinton cut in from the left flank and delivered a fine cross that Colin Clarke expertly guided beyond Spink and into the far corner from 12 yards out with a deft header.
Within 120 seconds Clarke could have been the villain. The one-time club record signing from Southampton inadvertently sent a flying header towards his own goal as he attempted to clear a Villa corner and he was indebted to Kenny Sansom for his diligent post-marking job and goal line clearance.
Wegerle and Sinton were at the heart of most Rangers attacks and when the former made an absolute fool of England’s David Platt with a turn and nutmeg that made light of a difficult playing surface he was able to send the latter screaming into the area for a cross-shot that flew past Spink and right through the goal mouth with nobody on hand to convert into the open net. David Bardsley retrieved the situation and crossed again and although this time Clarke got his head to the ball, Ray Wilkins failed with his acrobatic attempt to hook home the nod down from close range.
Of course you have to score when you’re dominating the game, particularly against the league’s better teams, and having found the second goal elusive the R’s were punished with an equaliser 15 minutes from time. Clarke was pulled back by referee Joe Worrall as he attempted to spark off a counter attack by sneakily using his hand to move the ball past a would-be Villa tackler. From the free kick Cowans sent a deep ball into the back post beyond all the QPR defenders but out of the reach of David Seaman and giant Danish centre back Kent Nielsen stole in unmarked to smash in an unstoppable volley.
Rangers eventually finished eleventh, hamstrung by a dismal start to the season. Villa had lost three and drawn one of five coming into this match, and lost the next two against Palace and Man City to give Liverpool a glimmer of hope which they made the most of. Villa won five and lost six of their last 15 matches while Liverpool won nine and drew two of their last 13, including victories in the last four matches, to seal the title by nine points.
QPR: Seaman, Parker, Maddix, McDonald, Sansom, Bardsley, Wilkins, Barker, Sinton, Clarke (Falco), Wegerle
Villa: Spink, Price (Olney), Gage, McGrath, Gray, Nelse, Daley, Platt, Cascarino, Cowans, Ormondroyd
Highlights >>> Villa 1 QPR 3, 1989 >>> QPR 1 Villa 0, 1973 >>> Villa 2 QPR 1, 1969
Villa 3 QPR 3, Tuesday April 7, 2015, Premier League
QPR led twice, trailed once, and eventually ended up with a 3-3 draw when these sides last met at Villa Park in April 2015. Rangers came into this midweek relegation six pointer on the back of a 4-1 win at West Brom at the weekend and with Matt Phillips having the game of his QPR career they nearly reignited an ultimately doomed survival bid with a second road win in four days. Phillips opened the scoring after seven minutes and later set up Charlie Austin to make it 3-2 with just ten minutes to go. In between Clint Hill finally broke his Premier League scoring duck with a powerful header from a corner. But Villa had survived at QPR’s expense once before because of the power and goalscoring of Christian Benteke and the giant Belgian rescued his team, and manager Tim Sherwood whose set up for this game was all wrong, with a fantastic hat trick. The first a surging run from the halfway line and blasted finish just after Phillips had scored, the second set up by Agbonlahor, third a long range free kick immediately after the Austin goal. Wonderful stuff.
Villa: Guzan 6; Bacuna 6 (Lowton 75, 6), Vlaar 7, Clark 6, Richardson 4; Sanchez 6, Delph 6, Cleverley 5 (N'Zogbia 81, -); Grealish 7 (Cole 70, 5), Benteke 9, Agbonlahor 7
Subs not used: Baker, Okore, Weimann, Given
Goals: Benteke 10 (unassisted), 33 (assisted Agbonlahor), 83 (free kick, won N'Zogbia)
QPR: Green 7; Isla 5 (Traore 50, 6), Caulker 5, Onuoha 6, Hill 6; Phillips 8, Barton 7, Sandro 6 (Doughty 70, 7), Kranjcar 4 (Henry 50, 8); Zamora 6, Austin 6
Subs not used: McCarthy, Hoilett, Mitchell, Grego-Cox
Goals: Phillips 7 (assisted Zamora ), Hill 55 (assisted Phillips), Austin 78 (assisted Phillips)
Bookings: Sandro 34 (foul), Kranjcar 35 (foul), Austin 57 (foul), Hill 82 (foul)
QPR 2 Villa 0, Monday October 27, 2014, Premier League
Aston Villa had lost four matches without scoring a goal prior to arriving at Loftus Road for the televised first meeting between these sides that season. That was all the encouragement QPR needed as they turned in one of their most complete performances (not a lot of strong competition) of the campaign, winning with a Charlie Austin goal in each half. First he strode onto a Bobby Zamora knock down and belted one in from long range, then in the second half he swept home from closer in after Isla and Vargas had combined well down the right. With Yun Suk-Young setting the tempo from left back and Richard Dunne imperious against his former club this was a rare bright moment in a poor season overall.
QPR: Green 8; Isla 7, Caulker 7, Dunne 8, Suk-Young 8; Vargas 7 (Traore 87, -), Sandro 6, Henry 7, Fer 6 (Kranjcar 90, -); Austin 7, Zamora 7 (Hoilett 63, 7)
Subs not used: Ferdinand, Hill, Phillips, Murphy
Goals: Austin 16 (assisted Zamora ), 69 (assisted Vargas)
Villa: Guzan 6; Lowton 6, Vlaar 5, Clark 6, Cissokho 6; Cleverley 6, Westwood 7 (Cole 70, 5), Sanchez 8; Agbonlahor 6, Weimann 6 (Bent 70, 4), Benteke 6
Subs not used: Okore, Bacuna, Richardson, N'Zogbia, Given
Bookings: Weimann 57 (foul), Lowton 76 (foul)
Aston Villa 3 QPR 2, Saturday March 16, 2013, Premier League
QPR suffered a damaging defeat at fellow strugglers Aston Villa in their quest to avoid relegation from the Premier League in 2012/13. The R’s seemed destined for the drop, but consecutive wins against Sunderland and Southampton provided hope and with Villa in poor form and one of the teams in the immediate vicinity of QPR on the league table the March trip to Villa Park looked crucial. Jermaine Jenas gave the R’s a deserved first half lead, and only a wonder save from Brad Guzan prevented Chris Samba adding to that. But the game swung in three minutes of first half injury time when first Jose Bosingwa hit the Villa post with a free kick, and then the hosts equalised when Julio Cesar made a hash of a high ball into his area and Agbonlahor pounced for a leveller. When Anders Weimann scored on the hour the game looked to be up but man of the match Andros Townsend struck back to make it 2-2 and again there only looked like being one winner until more suspect defending and goalkeeping let Christian Benteke in for a crushing late third for the hosts.
Villa: Guzan 8, Lowton 7, Clark 5, Baker 5 (Bennett 20, 5), Vlaar 6, Westwood 6, Sylla 6 (N’Zogbia 58, 6), Bannan 6, Agbonlahor 7, Weimann 8 (Bowery 84, -), Benteke 7
Subs not used: Given, Dawkins, Carruthers, Holman
Goals: Agbonlahor 45 (assisted Lowton), Weimann 58 (unassisted), Benteke 81 (assisted Weimann)
Booked: Sylla 30 (foul), Bannan 41 (foul), Weimann 45 (dissent)
QPR: Cesar 3, Bosingwa 5, Hill 5, Samba 7, Da Silva 5 (Taarabt 66, 7), Park 6 (Mackie 87, -), Jenas 6, Mbia 6, Townsend 7, Remy 7, Zamora 7 (Hoilett 45, 6)
Subs not used: Murphy, Onuoha, Wright-Phillips, Granero
Goals: Jenas 23 (assisted Zamora), Townsend 73 (assisted Remy)
Bookings: Mbia 12 (foul), Hoilett 88 (foul)
QPR 1 Aston Villa 1, Saturday December 1, 2012, Premier League
Harry Redknapp’s first home match in charge of QPR was against Aston Villa at the start of December that season. Having tightened the leaky defence and secured a 0-0 draw at Sunderland during the week in his first outing the new manager will have been disappointed to see goalkeeper Robert Green concede a soft goal early in the game. Brett Holman’s volley from the edge of the box was firmly struck, but Green should still have done more than simply palm the ball into the corner of his own net. The R’s were quickly on terms when Jamie Mackie expertly guided a header home from a Samba Diakite cross but they lacked sufficient creativity and cutting edge to grab a first win of the season in the second half and ultimately had to settle for a point.
QPR: Green 5, Bosingwa 6, Hill 7, Nelsen 7, Traore 5, Diakite 7 (Hoilett 67, 5), Mbia 7 (Derry 40, 5), Granero 5 (Park 46, 4), Taarabt 7, Wright-Phillips 6, Mackie 8
Subs not used: Murphy, Cisse, Ferdinand, Fabio
Goals: Mackie 18 (assisted Diakite)
Bookings: Derry 61 (foul)
Villa: Guzan 8, Lowton 6, Clark 6, Baker 6, Lichaj 6, Westwood 6, Bannan 6 (Delph 67, 6), Holman 7 (El Ahmadi 70, 6), Herd 6 (Williams 65, 6), Agbonlahor 7, Benteke 7
Subs not used: Given, Ireland, Bent, Weimann
Goals: Holman 8 (unassisted)
Bookings: Baker 47 (foul), Lowton 62 (foul)
Aston Villa 2 QPR 2, Wednesday February 1, 2012, Premier League
The Mark Hughes era began in earnest at Villa Park the season before, the day after the close of the transfer window. With Djibril Cisse making his debut and Bobby Zamora and Samba Diakite also secured late on Hughes felt ready to take on the challenge and Rangers made a lightning start to the game. Cisse kept his record of regularly scoring on debuts going with a crisp volley into the far corner when Shaun Wright-Phillips had a shot that deflected into his path. And the lead was doubled when a cross from another newcomer Taye Taiwo was headed into his own net under no pressure by Stephen Warnock. However, Darren Bent bagged one before half time and when Charles N’Zogbia volleyed in ten minutes from time Rangers were hanging on for a point. Ultimately the R’s were lucky to get away with a late handball appeal in their own penalty area. As it turned out, they’d have to wait until August to take another point from an away match.
Villa: Given 6, Hutton 7, Cuellar 6, Dunne 6, Warnock 5, Clark 6 (Bannan 70, 6), Ireland 6, Petrov 7, N’Zogbia 7, Keane 7, Bent 7
Subs not used: Guzan, Lichaj, Baker, Gardner, Heskey, Weimann
Goals: Bent 44 (assisted Hutton), N’Zogbia 80 (assisted Petrov)
QPR: Kenny 7, Young 6, Onuoha 6, Ferdinand 6, Taiwo 5, Mackie 5, Derry 5 (Ephraim 73, 6), Barton 6, Wright-Phillips 6, Cisse 7 (Macheda 81, -), Hulse 6 (Smith 54, 6)
Subs not used: Cerny, Hill, Hall, Balanta
Goals: Cisse 11 (assisted Wright-Phillips), Warnock og 22 (assisted Taiwo)
Bookings: Young (foul)
QPR 1 Aston Villa 1, Sunday September 25, 2011, Premier League
QPR needed an injury time own goal from Richard Dunne to rescue a point from the Loftus Road meeting between these sides that season after falling victim to a series of incorrect refereeing decisions. Villa took a second half lead from the penalty spot when referee Michael Oliver very harshly adjudged that Armand Traore had pulled back Gabby Agbonlahor at the back post when he’d done nothing of the sort. Barry Bannan converted the spot kick but Oliver further incensed the home ranks when he twice turned down penalty appeals for handball at the other end, including a blatant one from Alan Hutton who palmed Anton Ferdinand’s goal bound header away for a corner. Some justice was done in stoppage time when Dunne hacked into his own net after hard work from Helguson but QPR would have won the game with a different referee in charge.
QPR: Kenny 7, Young 7, Ferdinand 8, Hall 7, Traore 6, Faurlin 6, Derry 6 (Helguson 79, 7), Wright-Phillips 7 (Smith 86, -), Taarabt 7, Barton 6, Bothroyd 7 (Campbell 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Murphy, Orr, Buzsaky, Connolly
Sent Off: Traore 90 (two bookings)
Booked: Traore (foul), Traore (foul)
Goals: Dunne 90 og (assisted Helguson)
Aston Villa: Given 7, Hutton 5, Collins 7, Dunne 8, Warnock 6, Petrov 6, Ireland 5, Delph 7, N'Zogbia 6 (Weimann 85, -), Bannan 8 (Albrighton 72, 7), Agbonlahor 6
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Delfouneso, Beye, Lowry, Gardner
Booked: Warnock (foul), Hutton (foul), Collins (foul), Petrov (foul), Agbonlahor (foul), N'Zogbia (foul)
Goals: Bannan 58 (penalty)
Aston Villa 0 QPR 1, Wednesday September 24, 2008, League Cup
QPR sprang a surprise in the League Cup when they visited Villa Park in 2008. Having seen off Swindon and Carlisle in earlier rounds with Iain Dowie in charge, no mean feat for a club with our recent cup record, QPR travelled to the West Midlands backed by a sizeable away following. The crucial goal came from the head of Damion Stewart who was magnificent that night, marking John Carew superbly. Gareth Barry went through on the goal late in the game but chose to try and execute and ambitious chip which he made a mess of. Rangers went on to play at Old Trafford in the next round, losing 1-0 to a late penalty, but by that point Dowie had been given his marching orders by Flavio Briatore.
Aston Villa: Guzan 6, Gardner 6, Cuellar 6, Knight 5, Shorey 6, Osbourne 5 (Routledge 67, 5), Petrov 5, Barry 5, Ashley Young 7, Harewood 4 (Agbonlahor 67, 6), Carew 7
Subs Not Used: Friedel, Delfouneso, Davies, Salifou, Reo-Coker
Booked: Cuellar (foul) Gardner (foul)
QPR: Cerny 7, Connolly 7, Hall 8, Stewart 9, Delaney 5, Mahon 7, Rowlands 8, Parejo 8, Ledesma 8 (Balanta 90, -), Buzsaky 7 (Leigertwood 81, -), Agyemang 6 (Di Carmine 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Camp, Blackstock, Gorkss, Ephraim
Booked: Delaney (foul)
Goals: Stewart 58 (assisted Parejo)
2014/15 Villa 3 QPR 3 (Phillips, Hill, Austin)
2014/15 QPR 2 Villa 0 (Austin 2)
2012/13 Villa 3 QPR 2 (Jenas, Townsend)
2012/13 QPR 1 Villa 1 (Mackie)
2011/12 Villa 2 QPR 2 (Cisse, Warnock og)
2011/12 QPR 1 Villa 1 (Dunne og)
2008/09 Villa 0 QPR 1* (Stewart)
2004/05 Villa 3 QPR 1* (McLeod)
1995/96 Villa 4 QPR 2 (Dichio, Gallen)
1995/96 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Gallen)
1995/96 Villa 1 QPR 0*
1994/95 Villa 2 QPR 1 (Yates)
1994/95 QPR 2 Villa 0 (Dichio, Penrice)
1993/94 QPR 2 Villa 2 (McGrath og, Penrice)
1993/94 Villa 4 QPR 1 (Ferdinand)
1992/93 QPR 2 Villa 1 (Ferdinand, Allen)
1992/93 Villa 2 QPR 0
1991/92 Villa 0 QPR 1 (Ferdinand)
1991/92 QPR 0 Villa 1
1990/91 QPR 2 Villa 1 (B Allen, Tilson)
1990/91 Villa 2 QPR 2 (Wegerle pen, Sinton)
1989/90 QPR 1 Villa 1 (Clarke)
1989/90 Villa 1 QPR 3 (T Francis 3)
1988/89 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Sinton)
1988/89 Villa 2 QPR 1 (T Francis)
1986/87 Villa 0 QPR 1 (Keown og)
1986/87 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Bannister)
1985/86 QPR 0 Villa 1
1985/86 Villa 1 QPR 2 (Bannister 2
1984/85 Villa 5 QPR 2 (Bannister 2)
1984/85 QPR 2 Villa 0 (Bannister, Gregory)
1984/85 QPR 1 Villa 0* (Gregory)
1983/84 Villa 2 QPR 1 (Charles)
1983/84 QPR 2 Villa 1 (Stainrod, Withe og)
1978/79 Villa 3 QPR 1 (C Allen)
1978/79 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Harkouk)
1977/78 Villa 1 QPR 1 (Smith og)
1977/78 Villa 1 QPR 0*
1977/78 QPR 1 Villa 2 (Eastoe)
1976/77 Villa 1 QPR 1 (Abbott)
1976/77 Villa 3 QPR 0
1976/77 Villa 2 QPR 2 (G Francis, Eastoe)
1976/77 QPR 0 Villa 0
1976/77 QPR 2 Villa 1 (Masson, Clement)
1975/76 Villa 0 QPR 2 (G Francis, Hollins)
1975/76 QPR 1 Villa 1 (G Francis)
1972/73 QPR 1 Villa 0 (G Francis)
1972/73 Villa 0 QPR 1 (Leach)
1969/70 QPR 4 Villa 2 (Bridges 2, Marsh 2)
1969/70 Villa 1 QPR 1 (Marsh)
1968/69 Villa 2 QPR 1** (I Morgan)
1967/68 Villa 1 QPR 2 (Leach, Bradley)
1967/68 QPR 3 Villa 0 (Sanderson 2, Lazarus)
1919/20 Villa 2 QPR 1** (Birch)
* - League Cup
** - FA Cup
Bristol-born Penrice became one of a clutch of former Rovers players who moved to Loftus Road in the early 1990s to play for manager Gerry Francis.
Penrice had initially been a trainee at Bristol City before being released into non-league football because the coaching staff at Ashton Gate felt he was too small. He played for Mangotsfield while training as a plumber but got a second bit of the league football cherry when Bristol Rovers offered him a deal after a trial.
Rovers was the club Penrice and his father supported and he bagged 20 goals in his first full season — 1988/89 — as they made the Third Division play off final only to lose to Port Vale. Rovers won the league a year later but Penrice had been bought by Watford before the end of the season for a club record fee of £500,000. He scored 18 goals in 43 appearances during a year at Vicarage Road before his ascent up the leagues continued with a move to First Division Aston Villa for £1m.
His progress was halted at Villa Park by a broken leg, and with the likes of Dean Saunders and Dalian Atkinson heading to that corner of Birmingham Penrice was deemed surplus to requirement after just one goal in 20 appearances. Enter QPR, who were by now under the charge of former Bristol Rovers manager Gerry Francis who was looking for a partner for the new hot property of English football Les Ferdinand.
Penrice cost £600,000, leaving Villa after just eight months, and soon found himself surrounded by former Pirates team mates including Steve Yates, Devon White and his former school friend Ian Holloway. Penrice actually made his QPR debut as a substitute against Villa in a 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road, but was in and out of the team initially and had to wait seven appearances and two months for his first goal. Like buses, when one came another quickly followed. On as a sub in a game at Coventry that QPR trailed 2-0, Penrice scored twice near the end to salvage a point and quickly followed that up with his first at Loftus Road in a 1-1 draw with Wimbledon.
Penrice scored six in the 1992/93 campaign, including a memorable double in a 4-1 home win against Spurs, as QPR finished fifth in the first ever Premier League. He got eight the season after including strikes in a 4-0 away win at West ham and a 4-3 success at Norwich. Penrice then suffered from the emergence of Kevin Gallen which moved him down the pecking order in the 1994/95 season, although he bagged another brace against Coventry and a hug-a-stranger-moment length of the field effort against his old Aston Villa side in the very final minute of a tense 2-0 win at the end of October.
Ray Wilkins replaced Gerry Francis midway through the campaign and Penrice was mostly used as a substitute, if at all, after that. Three substitute appearances at the start of the 1995/96 relegation season preceded a move back to Watford and then later a return to Bristol Rovers where he first played with Ian Holloway again, and then joined the coaching staff alongside him when he became manager.
Since retirement he has coached alongside Holloway at Bristol Rovers, QPR, Plymouth and Leicester and worked as a European scout for Stoke City. He is now a freelance scout working in Europe for several clubs.
Others >>>Luke Young, Villa 2008-2011, QPR 2011-2014 >>> Kyle Walker, QPR (loan) 2010, Villa (loan) 2011 >>> Wayne Routledge, Villa 2008-2009, QPR 2009-2010, 2011 (loan) >>> Stefan Moore, QPR 2005-2008, Villa 2001-2005 >>> Peter Crouch, QPR 2000-2001, Villa 2002-2004 >>> Steve Hodge, Villa 1985-1986, QPR 1994-1995 >>> Simon Stainrod, QPR 1980-1985, Villa 1985-1987 >>>John Gregory, Aston Villa 1977-1979, (manager) 1998-2002, QPR 1981-1985, (manager) 2006-2007 >>> John Burridge (again), Villa 1975-1978, QPR 1980-1982
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