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Charlie Austin scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season to earn a point for QPR

Ten-man Brighton slipped to second in the Championship as Charlie Austin scored twice to earn a point for new QPR boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

The hosts shaded the first half but Brighton scored twice in two minutes through Dale Stephens' volley and Rajiv van La Parra's 30-yard effort.

Austin, making his first start in over a month, got one back from close range.

After Brighton's Lewis Dunk was shown a second yellow for fouling Alejandro Faurlin, Austin nodded in late on.

Brighton, who extended their unbeaten run to 21 games, now sit behind Middlesbrough on goal difference after the Teessiders beat Burnley 1-0.

The top two go head-to-head on Saturday at the Amex Stadium at 12:30 GMT.

QPR move into 12th above Reading, who travel to Hull on Wednesday.

Alejandro Faurlin, who has been beset by injury at QPR, was angry at Lewis Dunk for his high challenge

Until Austin's ninth and 10th strikes of the season, Brighton looked in control despite elements of fortune in both their goals.

Stephens appeared to push QPR midfielder Sandro before his unorthodox overhead kick, while Van La Parra's long-range effort took a slight deflection to catch out home goalkeeper Rob Green.

Austin, who scored 18 goals in the Premier League last season and has attracted interest from top-flight clubs, was QPR's only outlet and smashed in at the second attempt to get Hasselbaink's side back into it.

And the hosts were given an added boost when Dunk was shown a second yellow six minutes from time for a high challenge on Faurlin that provoked a furious response from the Argentine.

The dismissal gave Austin some extra space in the box and he headed past David Stockdale from a corner to earn Hasselbaink a second draw in as many games since taking charge at Loftus Road.

QPR boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on Charlie Austin's future: "In football there are no guarantees and everybody wants to make a profit. At the end of the day it's a business. But do we want to sell him? No.

"It's up to the owners and as a manager I can only advise and can only say 'No, I don't want him to leave - I need him' and I think they would respect that.

"I think [their first goal] was a foul but we showed enormous character to come back and I think we deserved all three points."

Brighton manager Chris Hughton: "In the end we also had to be strong during a period after their second goal and make sure they then didn't score again. That's the plus, because we could have lost this game.

"When you're looking for perfection, you always analyse things like how you conceded goals, and I have a very disappointed dressing room in there.

"But there are certainly more things to be happy about than unhappy. It's a very tough division and it's always very tough to get results away from home."