text: Charlie Austin has revealed how his good mate Joey Barton ignored him on his first day at Queens Park Rangers before realising his mistake - with the duo then becoming good friends. The striker has had a Premier League debut season to remember and is being touted as a possible England debutant in the future after scoring 15 goals in the competition. His close friendship with club captain Barton is well publicised but they're first encounter is one Austin is unlikely to forget. Charlie Austin (left) and Joey Barton have become good friends despite their very early setback . Speaking to The Guardian he said: 'My first day, I came to the training ground within 45 minutes of signing and I was waiting for the security barrier to lift when he came out. I thought: 'That's Joey Barton.' 'He looked at me, just got in his car and drove off. 'I thought: 'Brilliant, here we go!' To be fair to him, he came in the next day, shook my hand and said it wasn't until he got home that he knew I had signed. The following day he invited me and Bianca, my wife-to-be, out to dinner and from then until now we've been close mates.' QPR take on West Brom, on Saturday before travelling to fellow strugglers Aston Villa on Tuesday, and Austin knows his side can't afford to lose. The 25-year-old says QPR can't afford to lose their next two games and must pick up at least four points . Club captain Barton (centre) has been relegated with the club before and will want to avoid the drop . He said: 'You look at those two games and you think we need to get four to six points.' Austin's first season has been somewhat spectacular and he's currently fourth in the highest goalscoring charts behind Harry Kane, Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero and the striker his humbled to be in the same mix as them. 'It's quite surreal because I couldn't have dreamed to be in the mix with people like that.,' he says. Austin (centre) scores against Aston Villa and he'll look to do the same when they play on Tuesday .
target: Charlie Austin revealed that Joey Barton ignored him on his first day .
  The pair are good friends now following the hilarious incident .
  The 25-year-old says QPR can't afford to lose in their double header .
  Austin is delighted and humbled to be fourth in the goalscoring charts .
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