Player Ratings: Stoke City 3-1 Queens Park Rangers

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 sorts the heroes from the villains.

STOKE CITY

Goal

Asmir Begovic: Blameless for the goal and pulled off one particularly impressive save to keep out Vargas in the second half. Overall did very little wrong throughout. (7/10)

Defence

Phil Bardsley: Quiet game for the right-back overall, but did produce one goal-saving intervention to keep out Hoilett's near-post effort in the second half. (6/10)

Ryan Shawcross: Hobbled off on 42 minutes with what looked to be a groin injury. (5/10)

Phillipp Wollscheid: The German defender continues to impress on his loan from Bayer Leverkusen, and looked solid alongside Shawcross and Muniesa, who replaced the Stoke skipper. (7/10)

Marc Wilson: Perhaps Stoke's worst performer on the day; contributed very little to either defence or attack. (4/10)

Midfield

Glenn Whelan: Showed why he is worth the new contract that he has just signed with a quiet, yet effective showing in centre midfield. Looked overrun in midfield at times, but a good performance on the whole. (6/10)

Steven N'Zonzi: Perhaps slightly guilty of not being tighter to Fer when the Dutchman embarked on a run from midfield which ultimately led to Kranjcar's goal. Good performance other than that. (6/10)

Stephen Ireland: Fantastic first-half performance, in which he grabbed two assists. Dipped slightly in the second half, but it was still a brilliant display overall. (8/10)

Marko Arnautovic: Regularly tormented Hill down QPR's left side, but his decision-making let him down once too often this afternoon. Hauled off for Crouch on the hour mark. (5/10)

Victor Moses: Booked for diving in an incident which took the gloss off what was a very good all-round performance, with Isla regularly troubled by Moses's pace. (6/10)

Attack

Jonathan Walters: Stoke's hat-trick hero; took his first two goals really well before enduring an anonymous second half, but still managed to put the game to bed at a crucial time. (8/10)

Substitutes

Marc Muniesa: Slotted in beside Wollscheid and did well to minimise the absence of Shawcross. (6/10)

Peter Crouch: Had plenty of time in which to make an impact and, despite making himself a bit of a nuisance, did not contribute all that much in the final third. (5/10)

QUEENS PARK RANGERS

Goal

Robert Green: Might have been suspect when trying to save Walters's first goal, but did very little wrong other than that and pulled off one or two excellent saves. (6/10)

Defence

Mauricio Isla: Struggled to contain the lively Moses, especially in the first half, and found himself less threatened in the second half by virtue of QPR's dominance. (5/10)

Richard Dunne: First game back from a groin injury and looked slightly caught unawares by Stoke's first two goals. Much better second half. (5/10)

Nedum Onuoha: Produced a few important interceptions, but was perhaps too far upfield when Stoke countered for the second goal. (5/10)

Clint Hill: Like Isla on the right side of defence, found himself tormented by Arnautovic before the Austrian was replaced in the second half. (5/10)

Midfield

Eduardo Vargas: Came into the game a little more in the second half following a largely anonymous first-half display, but was never going to be QPR's hero this afternoon. (5/10)

Joey Barton: Desperately unlucky not to grab an equaliser after watching his ferocious free kick cannon off the crossbar in the second half. Booked. (6/10)

Karl Henry: His error directly led to Stoke's opening goal and the combative midfielder was hauled off at half time and replaced with striker Bobby Zamora. (4/10)

Leroy Fer: Certainly one of QPR's better players on the day and forced Begovic into a few good saves. (6/10)

Niko Kranjcar: Ireland picked his pocket cheaply and forged the counter-attack which led to Stoke's second goal, but the Croat atoned for that by reducing the arrears moments later. (5/10)

Attack

Charlie Austin: Despite scoring 13 times this season, Austin never looked a threat this afternoon. Perhaps lacked the service that he has thrived on all season long. (4/10)

Substitutes

Bobby Zamora: Missed a wonderful chance late on to secure QPR's first away point of the season. Very little impact despite having 45 minutes to do so. (4/10)

Junior Hoilett: Injected fresh life into QPR's attack at a time when they looked to be running out of ideas. Perhaps should have started. (6/10)

Suk-Young Yun: Out-jumped by Walters for the third and killer goal. (4/10)