Rob Green: 6 - Had very little to do but what he did was efficiently handled. Got down particularly well to deal with a Diego Fabbrini shot in the first half and then spent a large portion of the game screaming ‘left’ where he clearly thought there were more inroads on the Watford goal.

Danny Simpson: 8 - Tidied up well and nullified the attack; has all the attributes of a right-back – not least consistency.

Nedum Onuoha: 7 - Slotted into the central defensive role in place of the poorly Clint Hill and was also important in taking the sting out of the Hornets attack.

Richard Dunne: 7 - Made one crucial tackle on Fabbrini on the edge of the box and kept everything in check at the back.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto: 8 - Fingers crossed Tottenham don’t want him back. OK, Armand Traore waits in the wings if needs be, but the current occupier of left-back is a cut above, and joined in the attack when needed.

Joey Barton: 6 - Looked like a Samurai warrior with his short pony tail, and as ever got stuck in to earn a booking. But playing defensive midfield is not the best way to use JB, although he was equally important to the plan of leaving Vicarage Road with something.

Matt Phillips: 6 - Credit to the player who got the only QPR shot on target that demanded Almunia tip over in the second half, but otherwise a fairly quiet game for the right winger.

Tom Carroll: 5 - Was limited in attacking chances and got lost in centre mid: the Spurs loanee had more influential games than this.

Yossi Benayoun: 5 - Screwed a shot just wide in the first half, but like Carroll got marooned twixt and between telling passes and frustration. The former Chelsea man is not quite 100 per cent match fit, however.

Junior Hoilett: 7 - Great going forward, constantly trying to weave his way into scoring chances while cutting in from the left, but ran into brick wall after brick wall.

Niko Kranjcar: 8 - No goals, but the Croatian playing as a front man in place of the absent Charlie Austin had the best touch on the pitch. Considering he was out of his comfort zone, Kranjcar made a decent fist of the job even without a goal to show for his labours.

Subs:

Andy Johnson: 5 - ‘A’ for anonymous and ‘J’ for joined in. In all fairness to him, that forward role demands a constant supply, and a striker not fully fit had little to show for his 20-minute cameo.

Gary O’Neil: 5 - As usual, got about the pitch for 20 minutes; but was never able to make a telling contribution.

Armand Traore: 5 - When you’ve got barely 14 minutes with the added time, there’s not going to be many opportunities to stake a claim, and even given a new left-sided attacking role for the Frenchman, he’s going to need longer than this.