Jon Walters netted a hat-trick as Stoke City beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 at the Britannia Stadium this afternoon.
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Both teams began sluggishly, with no shots of note until Stoke took the lead in the 21st minute, through Walters, who latched onto Stephen Ireland's back-heel and buried a clinical finish underneath Rob Green.
Eight minutes later, Ireland almost netted himself with a crashing half-volley from the edge of the box, but his powerful strike flew just wide.
Ireland once again had a hand in Stoke's second goal as he released Walters, who kept his composure to slot the ball past an advancing Green with his left foot.
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QPR were second best throughout the first half, but were handed a lifeline shortly before the break when Niko Kranjcar latched onto Charlie Austin's scuffed effort and buried the ball from close range.
Phil Bardsley came within whiskers of restoring Stoke's two-goal lead early in the second half, but his free kick brushed the side netting.
Eduardo Vargas was then unlucky to see his acrobatic effort parried away by Asmir Begovic in the 57th minute.
After such an assured first-half showing, Stoke were left to defend valiantly in the dying stages of the game and were lucky to see Joey Barton's free kick rebound off the crossbar.
Bobby Zamora and Leroy Fer both came close late on, but Stoke wrapped up the victory in the second minute of stoppage time as Walters completed his hat-trick with a precise header.
Kristian Johnson
