Own goal to the rescue as Reds escape with last-gasp win at QPR
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LIVERPOOL scored a stunning 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers with four of the five goals coming in the last seven minutes of their English Premier League match at Loftus Road in London yesterday.
Liverpool needed the help of two own goals for the win, though under-fire striker Raheem Sterling was instrumental in both, that lifted the Reds to fifth in the table and left QPR bottom after a mesmerizing finale with Liverpool’s winning goal coming in the fifth minute of added time after Steven Caulker scored an own goal with virtually the last kick of the game.
Richard Dunne scored the first own goal to put Liverpool 1-0 ahead in the 67th minute before Eduardo Vargas equalized for QPR after 87 minutes.
Liverpool went 2-1 ahead with 15 seconds of normal time remaining when Philippe Coutino scored with a curling shot that took a deflection before Vargas headed Rangers level at 2-2 in the second minute of stoppage time.
One final Liverpool counter-attack in the 95th ended with Caulker putting through his own goal from a Sterling cross to give Liverpool all three points.
Sterling had endured widespread derision after England manager Roy Hodgson revealed the Reds star had told him he was too tired to play in last weekend’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia.
The 19-year-old’s commitment to his country and passion for the sport were subsequently questioned, but Sterling made a point to the critics as he played the entire 90 minutes at Loftus Road and produced the two key contributions to seal the points for Brendan Rodgers’ men.
With Hodgson watching from the stands, Sterling, who began his career as a QPR trainee, won a free-kick which led to Hoops defender Dunne turning into the net for Liverpool’s second-half opener.
And then with the score 2-2 at the death Liverpool emerged with the three points thanks to Sterling, whose cross was deflected into his own net by Caulker.
Not for the first time this season, Liverpool was well below its best for long periods, but somehow it was able to secure a morale-boosting victory ahead of Wednesday’s crunch Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
In the day’s other match Stoke City was playing at home to Swansea City.
On Saturday, Southampton crushed Sunderland 8-0 in one of the biggest wins in the Premier League's 22-year history, overshadowing Sergio Aguero’s four-goal haul in Manchester City’s latest thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur.
On an incident-packed day of goals, red cards and drama in England’s top flight, Chelsea preserved its five-point lead — and its unbeaten start to the campaign — by beating Crystal Palace 2-1 thanks to a free kick from Oscar and a great team goal finished off by Cesc Fabregas.
Second-placed City is leading the chase, with Aguero grabbing two goals in each half — two coming from penalties — and also missing from the spot in a 4-1 win over 10-man Spurs. The champion has now scored 15 goals in three straight wins over Tottenham.
Southampton stayed a point behind in third after scoring five times in the final 27 minutes against imploding Sunderland, narrowly missing out on equaling the record margin of victory in the Premier League held by Manchester United from its 9-0 win over Ipswich in 1995.
“I’m still a little bit in shock,” Southampton manager Ronald Koeman said. “Sometimes football is strange.”
Danny Welbeck’s stoppage-time strike secured injury-hit Arsenal a 2-2 draw at home with Hull City.
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