Aston Villa 3 QPR 2 - match report

The home side had fallen behind to a goal from former Villa loanee Jermaine Jenas but equalised against the run of play on the stroke of half-time through Gabby Agbonlahor.

Andreas Weimann put Villa ahead early in the second half only for the hosts to be pegged back by Andros Townsend, but Belgium striker Benteke slammed home with nine minutes left to secure the points.

Villa boss Paul Lambert named the same team that clinched a 2-1 win over Reading last weekend as his team went in search of back-to-back league wins for the first time since May 2011.

The home side began with plenty of energy but it was QPR that carved out best of the early chances as Villa keeper Brad Guzan made two spectacular saves.

Jose Bosingwa floated a dangerous free-kick into the penalty area in the ninth minute and QPR powerhouse Christopher Samba climbed highest to direct a header towards the top-right corner only for Guzan to tip it on to the crossbar.

And the American international denied Samba again with a diving one-handed save from the resulting corner moments later when the Congolese centre-back got on the end of Bobby Zamora's lay-off and struck a shot through a crowd of bodies.

Villa were dealt a blow in the 20th minute when Nathan Baker limped out injury to be replaced by Joe Bennett at left-back and the youngster made a costly error within moments of being on the pitch.

Bennett played a lax pass inside which was seized upon by Jenas who fed the ball to Zamora and he smashed a low effort which Guzan parried, only for Jenas to slide into the six-yard box and touch home the rebound.

French striker Loic Remy showed a flash of brilliance with a spectacular effort from the corner of the box which Guzan palmed over in the 31st minute while Bosingwa struck the post from a free-kick.

However, despite QPR's dominance the claret and blues got themselves on level terms just before the interval when Agbonlahor directed a header from a Matthew Lowton cross past Julio Cesar in the QPR goal.

The momentum had firmly swung Villa's way and they went ahead 15 minutes after half-time when Bennett picked up the ball after a corner had been cleared and picked out Weimann, who twisted and turned on the edge of the box before he drilled a low effort past Cesar.

Lambert's side should have increased their advantage in the 65th minute when Lowton played a neat one-two with Benteke only to place his shot wide from a good position.

Ciaran Clark got his head on the end of Ashley Westwood's corner four minutes later but Cesar gathered comfortably.

QPR refused to throw in the towel and equalised when Townsend picked the ball up from Park Ji-Sung's lay-off and saw his shot – via a deflection off Villa captain Ron Vlaar – nestle in the corner of net.

Villa bagged the points, though, when a tricky run from Charles N'Zogbia culminated in a clever ball for Weimann who showed great persistence and cut the ball back for Benteke to smash the ball into a vacant net.

By Timothy Abraham