QPR’s Niko Kranjcar nicks point on mixed day for Stoke’s Peter Crouch

This time it looked as if Mark Hughes was going to leave Loftus Road happy. Sporadic boos greeted the Welshman on his first return to the ground since he was sacked as QPR manager nearly two years ago but goals from Mame Biram Diouf and Peter Crouch put his Stoke City side on course to depart with three points. Two minutes from the end, however, the home team’s best player, Niko Kranjcar, equalised with a fine free-kick.
In truth, the hostility of most home fans towards Hughes was as subdued as QPR’s performance. Most locals seemed to confine themselves to hoping that their current team would provide cutting comment on Hughes’s reign by demonstrating that the club were now much better off than when he left – that should not have been hard given that QPR were bottom of the Premier League back then with four points from 12 matches, but Harry Redknapp’s men have made an unconvincing start to this season and were woeful for long periods here.

The new signing Eduardo Vargas hinted at promise with a snappy run and shot after 55 seconds but that proved misleading, as the QPR threat soon faded and Stoke kept the hosts at bay quite comfortably. In the 11th minute Hughes’s team helped themselves to the lead. Victor Moses ambled down the left and lobbed the ball towards the unmissable Peter Crouch, who rose above Rio Ferdinand and headed down for Diouf to nod into the net from close range.
Moses could have scored a minute later but fired straight at Rob Green from the edge of the penalty area. QPR were looking stodgy in midfield, dodgy at the back and devoid of ideas going forward. There seemed little prospect of them being able to pick a way through a Stoke defence that had shut out Manchester City on their last away trip.
Stoke should have struck on the counter in much the same way they did at the Etihad but, after a break led by Steven N’Zonzi, Diouf dallied and allowed the defence to recover. The Senegalese should also have done better in the 28th minute when he was allowed to receive a throw-in from Moses, with QPR seemingly playing a senseless offside trap, but again the striker dithered.
Moses teed up Crouch in the 31st minute but the striker slashed wide from 18 yards.
Stoke were unruffled at the back until Kranjcar tried his luck from long range and his fine swirling effort flew inches over.
Just before QPR got the break they badly needed. Kranjcar swung a corner towards the back post, Steven Caulker met it at the back post and Crouch and Charlie Adam confused each other as each tried to clear and ended up helping the ball across the line.
QPR were soon behind again and once more it was far too easy for Stoke. Moses shrugged off Mauricio Isla down the left and then send a low cross into the area. Somehow it ran past Caulker and Ferdinand and all the way to Crouch, who smashed it first-time into the net from 10 yards.
The disarray in QPR’s defence deepened. Erik Pieters could have struck a third goal for Stoke but miskicked after making his way into the home box without any defender noticing. Stoke then tip-tapped their way into another scoring position before Adam calmly laid the ball back to N’Zonzi, who fired just over from 15 yards. QPR were perilously close to fiasco territory.
Kranjcar, the most lively player in a stagnant-looking home side, sent another decent long shot wide in the 59th minute. Karl Henry bashed a similar effort wide 10 minutes later.
QPR’s flailing continued until the end, but well-drilled Stoke seldom looked in jeopardy, other than when a pair of late tackles from Ryan Shawcross and Steve Sidwell put them at risk of red cards. The second of those challenges, by Sidwell in the 87th minute, gave Kranjcar the chance to take vengeance. The Croat did so spectacularly, curling a 20-yard free-kick over the wall and into the net.