Alex McLeish has barely had the interest paid back on his £9.5m investment on the enigmatic winger thus far, and it left some supporters wondering if Villa could get a refund from Wigan if they found the receipt for the player.

Goals, up to this point, had been non-existent for the Frenchman while assists were few and far between. But an upturn in form since the end of last year has seen N’Zogbia slowly start to convince some of the doubters.

And the faith McLeish placed in the 25-year-old, who returned to the side in place of the injured Gabby Agbonlahor after a recent heel problem, was repaid in part with a goal of real quality against QPR which secured a vital point for the claret and blues.

The timing of N’Zogbia’s volley was expert not just in its execution but also in terms of alleviating some of the dissatisfaction with the club’s ambitions in the transfer window just gone – or rather lack of them – when compared to their big-spending opponents from London.

The mandate of the Villa boss was to get a handle on the club’s wage bill but when QPR roll into town on the back of high-profile deadline day signings it does little to stifle fans’ frustration at fiscal policy.

McLeish therefore desperately needed his major summer signings to come up trumps and N’Zogbia finally delivered that most precious commodity in spectacular fashion in a game Villa could not afford to lose.

“The finish and second-half performance was much more in keeping with what I expect of Charles. Hopefully that kick-starts his Villa career,” said McLeish.

“Charles is a big player. These guys are Premier League players earning a lot of money and we expect top performances from them.”

It had not looked good for Villa, though, when QPR took the lead in the 12th minute through debutant Djibril Cisse, who had only received his international clearance to play as the visitors’ team bus pulled into the car park.

Jamie Mackie played in Shaun Wright-Phillips who saw his shot blocked by Stephen Ireland. The ball dropped to former Liverpool striker and he rifled in a low shot into the bottom-left corner of the net.

Things went from bad to worse for the claret and blues three minutes later as QPR doubled their lead when the luckless Stephen Warnock put through his own net.

Taye Taiwo whipped a cross into the penalty area from the left but poor communication between Richard Dunne and Warnock saw the Villa left-back head back across goal and past Shay Given despite not being under any pressure.

Robbie Keane had been a constant menace in the first half and it was little surprise that he was instrumental in Villa’s equaliser on the stroke of half-time as he picked up a ball from Ireland and slid in Alan Hutton down the right flank.

The Scotland international whipped in a low cross and Darren Bent stole in front of Nedum Onuoha to sidefoot the ball past Paddy Kenny with ease from just inside the six-yard box and reach a century of Premier League goals in the process.

Villa huffed and puffed in the second half but it seemed they would not be able to level until a moment of class from N’Zogbia in the 79th minute.

Ireland threaded an inch-perfect pass for Petrov who crossed high to the back post and N’Zogbia was on hand to smash a powerful left-footed volley past Kenny and into the bottom corner of the net to equalise.

Villa pressed for a winner and Bent saw his shot cleared off the line by Tommy Smith while Kenny denied N’Zogbia a second with a near-post save as QPR hung on for a point.

It was less than Villa deserved having dominated the second half but relief was the overriding emotion. The reaction had they suffered their fifth home defeat in six matches would have been a hard to digest.

By Timothy Abraham