Jonathan Walters grabbed a hat-trick as Queens Park Rangers slumped to their 11th successive away defeat in the Premier League with a 3-1 reverse at Stoke City.
The Republic of Ireland international struck two first-half goals as the Potters looked in cruise control at the Britannia Stadium.
Niko Kranjcar reduced the arrears almost immediatly after his second, but Rangers failed in their bid for an equaliser, despite controlling the second half.
Against the run of play, Walters wrapped up the points with a late header to seal his first treble in Stoke colours.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at how the game was won in the Potteries.
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Match statistics
STOKE CITY
Shots: 14
On target: 3
Possession: 51%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 12
QUEENS PARK RANGERS
Shots: 10
On target: 4
Possession: 49%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 9
Was the result fair?
In a word, no. It was one-way traffic in a first half that saw Stoke dominate, and they perhaps should have boasted a wider winning margin than 2-1 at the break. However, the visitors were far and away the better team throughout the second 45 minutes, and they will be massively disappointed not to have picked up their first point away from Loftus Road this season.
Stoke City's performance
Mark Hughes's side could, and probably should, have been out of sight at the break by virtue of a dominant first-half performance, with wingers Victor Moses and Marko Arnautovic causing Mauricio Isla and Clint Hill no end of problems on the flanks.
Stephen Ireland ultimately inspired them to a deserved, yet narrow, 2-1 lead at the interval after bagging two wonderful assists for Walters, but that momentum was lost after the restart and City ended up clinging on to their advantage, with Asmir Begovic's crossbar coming to the rescue on two occasions in the second half.
It would not be fair to ignore their defensive effort in that second half, however, with Marc Muniesa - who replaced the injured Ryan Shawcross in the first half - forging an impressive centre-back partnership with Philipp Wollscheid. It was the first time that the pair played together, not that anybody would have guessed. Even so, Stoke were lucky, and Hughes will know that.
QPR's performance
Harry Redknapp has the Premier League's third most prolific marksman this season in his ranks, but 13-goal Charlie Austin found himself isolated as the focal point in QPR's 4-5-1 throughout a first half that saw him virtually anonymous.
Despite switching his formation to 4-4-2 in the second half, with Bobby Zamora brought on, Redknapp watched the duo unable to make much of a positive impact in the final third and this undoubtedly contributed to the defeat - their 11th consecutive away loss of the season.
Overall, Rangers do not deserve to make the long trip back to London without so much as a point for their efforts, because they were comfortably the better side in the second half, but it is results like this, under these circumstances, which underline the importance of recruiting another striker in the final few days of the transfer window. Their Premier League status could well hinge on it.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Stephen Ireland: While Walters was the standout candidate, Ireland was also excellent and gets the nod. If this performance was anything to go by, then Bojan's season-ending knee injury might not hinder the Potters as much as Hughes would have feared by virtue of Ireland's superb performance in the Spaniard's absence.
First, Ireland was alert to capitalise on Karl Henry's first-half error before showing fantastic awareness with a smart back-heel to set up Walters's first. The 28-year-old had a starring role in the second, too, leading Stoke's counter-attack and playing in Walters.
It was a brilliant performance overall, and with Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane watching on, this performance will have certainly increased his and Martin O'Neill's desire to persuade Ireland to rejoin the international setup ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifiers in March.
Biggest gaffe
Simply put, it just has to be Henry. The QPR midfielder was culpable for the opener after letting Isla's pass run across his body in a dangerous area, and Ireland intercepted before playing a delightful back-heel to Walters, who slotted past Robert Green from an angle.
Referee performance
Mike Dean only had one real contentious decision to make, and the veteran got it spot on when he booked Moses for diving. He brandished three other yellows in total and got them all right. Good performance.
What next?
Stoke City: City now have eight days in which to prepare for a trip to Newcastle United next Sunday.
Queens Park Rangers: The Hoops are back in action next Saturday as Southampton travel to Loftus Road.
Shane Callaghan
