City suffered their second consecutive loss as the Manager of the Month curse once again took it's affect on the Potters.
A brace from Mikele Leigertwood in the first twenty-one minutes put the home side in a comfortable position and any hopes of a Potters comeback ended prematurely when Andy Griffin was shown a straight red card just before the half-time whistle.
Griffin was given his marching orders by referee Andy D'Urso for what appeared to be a clean challenge on QPR midfielder Hogan Ephraim.
Mamady Sidibe and Ricardo Fuller were both unlucky not to score earlier on, but the combination of the bar and post denied the Potters of a much needed goal.
The second half then proved to be an anti-climax for the visitors with QPR going on to add another on fifty-six minutes through Akos Buzsaky.
Boss Tony Pulis made one change to the line-up for the game with Senegalese midfielder Salif Diao coming in to replace the suspended Rory Delap.
And it was the visitors who had the early pressure with two corners in the first eight minutes, but the first really dangerous attempt on goal was from the home side.
A cross from the left found Rowan Vine in the middle but his goalbound effort was expertly blocked by Ryan Shawcross.
Moments later Sidibe tested the keeper at the other end, but his header from Liam Lawrence's cross hit the bar and somehow bounced away from danger.
The home side then surged forward and when Leigertwood found himself unmarked 25 yards out from goal, the midfielder drove a left-footed strike past the out-stretched hand of Steve Simonsen to opening the scoring.
Their lead was doubled nine minutes later when Vine headed down Patrick Agyemang's right sided cross and Leigertwood lashed home his second of the afternoon.
Rangers were now in full swing and they could have grabbed a third in the 27th minute when Ephraim weaved his way down the left hand side.
His deep cross was sent to the far post but Shawcross was there to head the ball out for a corner with Agyemang looming.
Things then went from bad to worse in the 42nd minute when skipper Griffin was dismissed for an innocuous challenge on the halfway line.
The defender cleanly won a fifty-fifty challenge with Ephraim but referee D'Urso adjudged him of lunging at the ball and issued a straight red card.
It was a very harsh decision, but one that seemed to spur the Potters on. Fuller burst onto Sidibe's flick-on shortly after but the Jamaican's cross-shot agonisingly hit the bottom of the post with keeper Lee Camp well beaten.
The half-time whistle blew just after and it was a time where Tony Pulis had to shuffle his pack. Andy Wilkinson replaced Sidibe to reform a back four with Richard Cresswell taking the captain's armband.
City pushed forward but with little affect and Pulis made his second substitution ten minutes into the second half, bringing Paul Gallagher on for Diao.
Gallagher's task of pulling the Potters back into the game was made harder almost instantly as the home side broke away quickly when Lawrence's free kick was blocked by the wall.
Ephraim raced down the left wing and found Agyemang in the box, who controlled the ball neatly and layed off Buzsaky who fired home from just inside the area.
Pulis then took Lawrence off for Lewis Buxton as City looked for another way back into the game.
They forced their first chance of the second period shortly after but Glenn Whelan's 20 yard curler was expertly tipped around the post by Camp (pictured below).
Cresswell and Fuller tried in vain to reduce the margin afterwards but the Potters were forced to return north without a consolation.
QPR (4-4-2): Camp; Mancienne, Connolly, Hall (Stewart 79), Delaney; Buzsaky, Rowlands (c) (Ainsworth 81), Leigertwood, Ephraim; Vine (Blackstock 75), Agyemang. Subs (Not Used): Pickens (gk), Lee.
CITY (4-4-2): Simonsen; Griffin (c) (sent off 42), Shawcross, Cort, Pugh; Lawrence (Buxton 62), Diao (Gallagher 55), Whelan, Cresswell; Sidibe (Wilkinson H/T), Fuller. Subs (Not Used): Hoult (gk), Parkin.
