Queens Park Rangers moved to within one point of safety with an entertaining 2-2 draw against champions Manchester City at Loftus Road this afternoon.

The hosts took the lead courtesy of a neat Charlie Austin finish in the first half, but City responded through Sergio Aguero's fine goal just after the half-hour mark.

Martin Demichelis turned Austin's wicked cross into his own net with just under 15 minutes to play, but once again it was Aguero who levelled things up seven minutes later to rescue a point for his side.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at a thrilling 90 minutes of action on a rainy evening in London.

Match statistics

QPR
Shots: 17
On target: 4
Possession: 41%
Corners: 7
Fouls: 9

Man City
Shots: 23
On target: 6
Possession: 59%
Corners: 7
Fouls: 10

Was the result fair?

Both sides contributed to a superb spectacle today, and it would have been harsh on either team to lose. City began the match very brightly but were soon overrun by QPR, who dominated for a large chunk of the first half. Aguero's first goal changed the course of the match, but QPR were always very much in it.

The tempo did not lessen until around the 70th minute, but shortly afterwards Demichelis's own goal sparked the game straight back into life. The conditions played their part in it being such a quick match, while QPR in particular deserve credit for refusing to park the bus even when leading.

The hosts must have been very nervous in the closing stages after their recent loss to Liverpool, but they saw out the result well and may even feel that they should have all three points having seen a goal controversially - albeit correctly - disallowed. It was a cracking match of football, and a share of the spoils is about right.

QPR's performance

Superb. Simply put, if they perform like this for the remainder of the season then they won't be in trouble come May. Having weathered an early storm from City, QPR came out firing after seeing Austin have two goals disallowed in the space of a minute. They completely dominated for a good 20-25 minutes until Aguero's opening goal.

They looked dangerous in the second half too, although they were also forced to rely on some good defending on a couple of occasions. City saw two efforts cleared off the line and, despite conceding two goals, Redknapp will be pretty pleased with how his side defended today. Only two moments of top quality from Aguero undid them.

The R's have now put in four very impressive performances in a row, starting with the defeat to Liverpool. They may not have picked up the points warranted from those displays, but it is worth remembering that they have played last season's top three in that time. If they can raise their game to a similar level against the teams in and around them in the table then they should be fine.

Man City's performance

It was very much a mixed bag from City today. Coming into the game off the back of a dreadful result against CSKA Moscow in midweek, the visitors started at a frantic pace and had things all their own way for the first five minutes or so. However, Austin's controversially disallowed goal sparked the hosts into life, and City were on the back foot for a while after that.

The concerning thing for Manuel Pellegrini will be that his side once again failed to control a match against a team regarded to be inferior to them. They were sloppy in possession at times and struggled to dominate proceedings in the middle of the park. Having said that, they did have two shots cleared off the line and 23 efforts overall, so they certainly had the chances to win this match.

They were forced to make do with a point, however, which leaves them eight behind leaders Chelsea now. It is not an unassailable gap, but City need to turn their form around sooner rather than later if they are to catch the pacesetters. It is now just one win in six in all competitions, which is simply not good enough.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Charlie Austin: A number of players could have won this award today, with the likes of Eduardo Vargas and Aguero putting in superb performances. However, Austin gets the nod having had a major hand in both of his side's goals and caused the City defence problems all game. He took his goal brilliantly and provided a magnificent cross to draw the own goal, while he also had two strikes disallowed. It was a very good display from the forward, who may be knocking on the England door if he keeps this up.

Biggest gaffe

This one goes to Demichelis for the own goal, which gifted QPR the lead once again with a little under 15 minutes remaining. The defender was caught up with trying to deal with Bobby Zamora, who had made a fine run in front of his man to try to latch onto Austin's cross. The QPR man missed the ball, but Demichelis sliced it into his own net.

Referee performance

Where to start? Mike Dean and his officials had an extraordinarily busy match tonight, particularly in the first half. The most controversial moment saw Hart gift a free kick straight to Austin, who saw his subsequent finish disallowed as Hart had hit the ball twice when taking the set piece. It was a very rare decision for Dean to make, but he deserves great credit for applying the little-known rule and getting it right.

There was also a question of handball and offside surrounding Aguero's first goal, while Austin may have also strayed beyond the last man for his strike. However, those were very tough ones to call. There was a question regarding consistency with yellow cards in the first half, but overall Dean coped well with a tricky assignment.

What next?

QPR: Next up for the R's is a trip to face Newcastle United after the international break.

Man City: City, meanwhile, will look to get back to winning ways when they host Swansea on Saturday 22.