Stoke 1 Aston Villa 3 - match report
Villa's late show lifted them out of the Premier League drop zone after a brilliant win at Stoke.
Matt Lowton's thunderbolt and Christian Benteke injury time strike sealed the win just as it looked like Michael Kightly would grab an undeserved point for Stoke.
Gabby Agbonlahor fired them ahead to equal Dwight Yorke's Premier League record of 60 goals for the club.
The win took Villa out of the Premier League bottom three above Wigan – who play QPR tomorrow – and just a point behind 14th placed Stoke.
Villa's win was thoroughly deserved as Stoke were left deep in relegation trouble with just six points separating third bottom Wigan and 12th placed West Ham.
Jordan Bowery and Fabian Delph replaced Barry Bannan and Yacouba Sylla from last weekend's Liverpool loss with Darren Bent back on the bench along with Brett Holman.
Stoke recalled Matt Etherington, Dean Whitehead and Kenwyne Jones after their defeat at Everton.
And inside the first two minutes Villa survived a scare when Jon Walters' cross hit Nathan Baker on the arm but referee Mark Clattenburg dismissed Stoke's appeals.
It was a huge let-off as Stoke too the game to Villa as Brad Guzan claimed Jones' looping header before the striker lashed over.
But Villa stunned their hosts on nine minutes when Agbonlahor cashed in on some poor Stoke defending.
Bowery and Lowton swapped passes after a thrown in for Lowton to burst into the area and cross for Agbonlahor to poke in after Geoff Cameron failed to clear.
The lively Bowery almost made it 2-0 two minutes later when he curled into the sidenetting after Asmir Begovic's poor clearance.
Stoke were reeling as Villa refused to back down.
And Begovic saved Stoke from more misery when Weimann raced through, only for the keeper to brilliantly turn his shot onto the post.
Villa were dominant but Agbonlahor was left embarrassed when he was booked for an awful dive as he rounded Begovic 10 minutes before the break.
Ryan Shawcross headed over in a rare moment of concern for Villa and their dominance continued in the second half when Begovic smartly denied Bowery just a minute in.
Villa were comfortable with pedestrian Stoke utterly predictable and easily contained. Guzan claimed Jones' angled effort before Ryan Shotton and Ryan Shawcross were booked as the hosts started to lose discipline.
But while it remained 1-0 Stoke were still in the game and the hosts began to threaten with 20 minutes remaining.
Substitute Cameron Jerome at least offered a little life to the hosts and Jones comically missed his kick in front of goals – before they levelled after 79 minutes.
Walters raced onto Charlie Adam's pass to cross and when Adam's mis-hit shot fell for Kightly he fired in from 10 yards.
Suddenly Villa were rocking, Ron Vlaar survived a handball appeal and Jerome blazed a free kick over.
But the visitors went ahead with three minutes left with a stunner from Lowton.
Dean Whitehead only half cleared Charles N'Zogbia's corner to Lowton who controlled the ball and unleashed a brilliant dipping volley into the top corner from 30-yards.
And they sealed it in injury time when Benteke raced through after stealing the ball to slot under Begovic.