Goals from Jonathan Walters and Rory Delap capped a forgettable afternoon as Stoke City frustrated Fulham at the Britannia.

The Whites headed to Staffordshire in confident mood on the back of their first league win of the season having comprehensively dismissed SW6 rivals QPR in their last outing.

They made a positive start too as Danny Murphy flashed a corner across goal early on, before Mousa Dembélé almost slid Bobby Zamora through with a delicate angled pass.

John Arne Riise added to the impetus, smashing over from 25 yards, but just as the Whites threatened to take control, the hosts sprang into life as wide men Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant began to push forward.

And it was from one Pennant delivery that Stoke should have taken the lead on 22 minutes, but fortunately Peter Crouch volleyed off target with the goal seemingly at his mercy.

Crouch caught sight of goal again moments later from Etherington’s clipped pass, but found the returning Aaron Hughes on guard with an impressively well-timed block.

As the half entered the closing stages, Zamora reminded the home side of Fulham’s attacking intent, glancing a brilliant cross from Chris Baird wide of goal.

However, at the other end, a slalom run from Pennant broke through the Whites’ defensive line but, receiving a clever pass from Crouch on the edge of the box, the winger should have done better as his shot slipped wide of the far post.

Stoke started the second-half as they had finished the first, Rory Delap trying his luck from distance, before Jonathan Walters saw a goal-bound header cleared well by Brede Hangeland.

A goalmouth scramble just after the hour mark needed the Norwegian defender and Baird to be at their most alert as another searching throw from Delap caused initial confusion.

In the ascendency, Stoke issued another warning as Glenn Whelan struck the post with a dipping strike from the edge of the box.

Marc Wilson then curled a free-kick over the Fulham bar, before seeing his back post header from a Pennant corner deflected off the line by Zamora.

Against the run of play Riise shook the Stoke bar with a powerful free-kick, but Stoke responded immediately with Etherington’s shot falling to the feet of Walters who made little mistake with a simple close range finish on 79 minutes.

Delap then added a second with three minutes remaining as he headed in from Etherington’s free-kick to extend Stoke’s unbeaten run at home, having also beaten Liverpool and shared a point with both Chelsea and Manchester United.

It was certainly an afternoon to forget for the Whites who will now look towards Thursday’s UEFA Europa League clash with Wisla Krakow as an opportunity to bounce back.