A hat trick from Jonathan Walters at the Britannia Stadium condemns QPR to their 11th straight away defeat in the Premier League.
After a scrappy opening twenty minutes, during which neither side were able to gain a foothold; the game was sparked into life by Jonathon Walters. A comical error from Karl Henry, who miss-controlled the ball on the edge of his own penalty area, allowed Stephen Ireland to steal into the penalty area and find Jonathan Walters with a backheel pass. The Republic of Ireland international, after controlling the ball, rifled the ball confidently into the bottom right corner of Robert Green’s goal.
Stoke City pushed forward confidently after taking the lead, and could have doubled their advantage through a Victor Moses set piece. The Nigerian international’s free kick was seemingly destined for the top right corner of Green’s goal, however, the ball curled at the final moment and flew just wide of the far post.
Mark Hughes’ men finally got their reward for their dominance on the half hour mark, when Ireland and Walters linked up once again to make it 2-0. A powerful run down the left hand flank from the deputising Stephen Ireland, culminated in the former Republic of Ireland international squaring the ball to the onrushing Walters. On his 200th appearance for the Potters, Walters was able to find the bottom near corner with his subsequent strike on goal.
Despite not having a single effort on goal during the first third of the game, against the run of play, QPR were able to reduce the deficit in the 36th minute through Niko Krancjar.
Similar to Stoke’s opener, the goal was the result of shambolic defending. Stoke’s inability to clear the ball in their own penalty area, led to the ball falling kindly to Niko Krancjar, who coolly slotted the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Although only one goal behind at half time, QPR were incredibly lethargic throughout the first half, and largely struggled to support the lone figure of Charlie Austin up front. In order to address this issue, QPR manager, Harry Redknapp, reverted to a 4-4-2 for the start of the second half, bringing on Bobby Zamora up front.
The tactical changes made by Redknapp almost paid diffidence early in the second half, as the visitors spurned a glorious chance to level the game. After a Leroy Fer free kick deflected off the top of the wall and into the path of Eduardo Vargas, the Chilean was able to readjust his body and overhead kick the ball towards goal. However, with a goal seemingly the only result of Vargas’ effort, Begovic was able to react quickly to parry the ball clear of danger.
QPR’s offensive front continued throughout the second half, and almost led to the equaliser with a quarter of an hour remaining. A venomous free kick from Joey Barton forced the Stoke City number one into another outstanding save, as he had to be at full stretch to tip the ball onto the crossbar.
As QPR pushed forward in search of the equaliser, Stoke City capitalised upon the visitors somewhat necessary negligence of defensive duties in order to grab a third goal in additional time. Jonathon Walters completed his first ever Premier League hat trick in the 92nd minute, when he headed home a weak attempted clearance from Barton.
The defeat leaves Harry Redknapp’s men precariously close to the foot of the table, with 19 points from 23 games. If they are to have any chance of staying in the Premier League, QPR will need to start picking up points away from home sooner rather than later.