Austin grateful for service following double delight

QPR’s two-goal hero Charlie Austin paid tribute to his team-mates after Monday’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Fine strikes in either half from Austin moved Harry Redknapp’s team off the foot of the Premier League table and condemned Villa to a fifth consecutive scoreless defeat.

The former Burnley striker, who first came to prominence at non-league Poole Town, marked his 200th professional appearance in style with his 105th and 106th career goals.

But Austin was keen to credit the roles of strike partner Bobby Zamora and Chile wideman Eduardo Vargas, who created the goals that sent the Loftus Road crowd into raptures.

“To score two goals in a Premier League game – I’m over the moon,” he told Sky Sports.

“But I can’t do it without my team-mates. The first goal was set up from Bob and the second one I just made a good run to the front post and Eduardo found me.

“So without my team-mates I wouldn’t score goals.

“I’ve come a long way but hopefully [the brace] can be the first of many.”

Zamora offered praise for Austin’s goalscoring instincts after he drilled home a fantastic 17th-minute opener from outside the area and the ex-Tottenham and West Ham player was delighted to see a committed home performance rewarded after Rangers suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss when they hosted Liverpool last time out.

“It was a great finish,” Zamora said. “It was pretty much onto his left foot I thought but he cut across it with his right. It could probably only go in one place and he put it there.

“As [the ball] comes up he’s around the front. He knows where I want to set it and it paid off well today.

“It gave us that lead that we needed – gave us something to hang on to.

“The spirit’s been good and certainly the performances at home have been very good. We probably should have taken a lot more points than we have done at home.

“But today’s a good turning point for us and a great win for us.”

Three points on Monday night were particularly important for QPR, who have consecutive games against title favourites Chelsea and Manchester City next on the agenda.

“The two games we’ve got coming up are tough games but we go in there with all the confidence after tonight’s performance,” Austin added

“We all know that after that performance we put in [against Liverpool] we were disappointed not to come away with a point.

“We knew if we put in half that performance today we’d get something from the game and luckily we put in even more performance and got the three points. It’s massive for us.”