QPR vs Brighton match report: Charlie Austin double brings cheer to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as Seagulls slip up

QPR 2 Brighton 2: Outstanding striker secures deserved point for hosts after Seagulls score two quick goals

Charlie Austin's brace rescued a point for QPR (PA)

In a Championship that Burnley’s manager Sean Dyche recently called “more random than ever”, Brighton’s high-flying Seagulls were outplayed for 45 minutes by the team in 13th place, but scored two quick goals and were then pegged back by two from the outstanding striker Charlie Austin.

It was no more than justice, since the first Brighton goal should not have been allowed and, despite extending their unbeaten club record to 21 matches, they lost the leadership to Middlesbrough.

Rangers’ previous seven matches had produced only five goals for either side so a feast of net-busting was hardly on the cards, but the entertainment value was high from the start.

The home side, as bright as their opponents’ flourescent shirts, made all the best chances for a long time, not least because they were able to call on the much-missed Austin from the start after three substitute appearances following his calf injury.

That allowed the equally lively Matt Phillips to revert to the right flank and in the first quarter of the game alone, the pair of them could have improved on their team’s total of two goals in five matches.

New manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s pressing game, so successful in his 13 months at Burton Albion, was evident as the midfielders hustled Brighton at every opportunity. When possession was turned over in the third minute, Austin ran at the defence and from just outside the penalty area hit a low shot that David Stockdale was happy to push for a corner.

The goalkeeper had to do the same only four minutes later when Phillips cut in from the right for a fearsome left-footed drive. Austin worked hard throughout – even at one point defending with his boot off – and often pulled out to the left, from where his cross midway through the first half reached Phillips, whose shot was cleared off the line by Inigo Calderon.

Rangers were clearly not fazed by being forced into an early change when right-back James Perch strained his thigh in the first quarter of an hour and had to be replaced by the Watford loanee Gabriele Angella. He played at centre-half, collecting an early yellow card, while Nedum Onuoha moved across to full-back.

Everything changed within 10 minutes of the resumption, however, as Brighton, suddenly wide awake, scored twice in quick succession.

In the 53rd minute Rajiv van La Parra’s corner was headed by Lewis Dunk back into the mix, where Dale Stephens blatantly pushed Sandro before scoring with a low overhead kick.

Two minutes later, QPR lost possession from their own throw-in and Van La Parra drove in past Rob Green from 30 yards as defender Grant Hall turned out of the way.

Austin led a spirited fightback with two worthy efforts saved and then a goal, holding off Calderon to smack Phillips’ cross high into the net.

Five minutes from time Dunk was sent off for a second yellow card and in a frantic finish that included seven minutes of added time, Austin escaped Bruno’s usual grappling at a corner to head a fully deserved equaliser.

Queen’s Park Rangers (4-2-3-1): Green; Perch (Angella, 16), Onuoha, Hall, Konchesky; Sandro (Henry, 55), Faurlin; Phillips, Fer (Polter, 82), Hoilett; Austin. Substitutes not used: Chery, Emmanuel-Thomas, Smithies, Tozser.

Brighton & Hove Albion (4-4-2): Stockdale; Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Calderon; Van la Parra, Stephens, Kayal, Murphy (Hunemeier, 85); Wilson (Zamora, 78), Hemed (Crofts, 79). Substitutes not used: Maenpaa, Forster-Caskey, Manu, Chicksen.

Referee: P Tierney (Lancashire).