Stoke City 1-0 Queens Park Rangers: Jacob Brown goal secures Potters win

Jacob Brown's goal was enough for Stoke to complete a double against QPR this season

Jacob Brown's strike lifted Stoke into the top half of the table and effectively killed off Queens Park Rangers' faint play-off hopes.

Brown fired home in first-half injury time, which proved enough to clinch a deserved victory for Michael O'Neill's side.

Rangers - who needed a win to maintain any realistic chance of scrambling into the top six - created little other than a George Thomas header that hit the post.

The Potters climb to 12th place, just two places and as many points behind QPR.

Stoke, who went into the game with four victories in their previous six, looked the more likely to open the scoring as Lewis Baker and Tommy Smith went close.

Rangers goalkeeper Keiren Westwood did well to deny Romaine Sawyers with a 20-yard effort that took a deflection, the rebound looping up for Brown who could only head over.

But the Stoke striker was on target in first-half injury time as Westwood foiled Ben Wilmot from a corner, only for Brown to rifle the loose ball into the net.

The Potters might have extended their advantage soon after the restart, with Westwood clawing a Taylor Harwood-Bellis header over the bar and also keeping out Josh Maja's attempt.

Rangers rang the changes in a bid to salvage their season, bringing on strikers Charlie Austin and Andre Gray, but they rarely looked like staging a turnaround.

Thomas came closest to levelling the contest 20 minutes from time when he headed Ilias Chair's cross against the woodwork.

Stoke assistant manager Dean Holden told BBC Radio Stoke:

"It's a pleasing win because we got on the front foot early in the game. We were banging the door down when we scored and I think it's the least we deserved to go in 1-0 at half-time.

"Then you've got to try and replicate that in the second half against a team who are dangerous because they're going to throw everything at the game - it was win or bust for them.

"They took a lot more possession of the ball but I think we controlled the second half without having as much possession. I don't think they got anywhere near our goal apart from once.

"It was important we got a 90-minute performance - that's what we asked for and that's what we saw."

QPR manager Mark Warburton told BBC London 94.9:

"We gave away an awful goal. We were awful in the first half, we lacked any pace, purpose or intensity.

"We didn't move the ball quickly enough or test the goalkeeper, we had no crosses in - we looked like a team doing everything not to win the game as opposed to a team that had to win the game.

"The second half was better but we still had two or three more gears to go, which is the most frustrating of all. A bit of quality in the final third can change everything.

"They know how they can perform - it's about that consistency of performance. The teams that have success in the Championship are the ones that have a consistent level of performance."