Stoke 2 Aston Villa 1 - match report and pictures

The ex-Villa striker struck 20 minutes from time after a mix-up gifted him the winner to take Stoke above Paul Lambert's side in the Premier League.

A woeful game came to life when Charlie Adam opened the scoring just six minutes after coming on at half time.

The hosts presented Libor Kozak an equaliser after Erik Pieter's gaffe but Villa could not hold on and now sit 13th in the league.

Christian Benteke was left out completely to recover from a knee injury as Kozak, Andi Weimann, Aleksandar Tonev, Chris Herd and Fabian Delph all returned.

Tonev shot over inside the first minute and Nathan Baker glanced a header straight at Asmir Begovic as Villa began brightly.

Stoke offered nothing in response with little suggestion Mark Hughes had changed their direct style of play, so vilified under ex-boss Tony Pulis.

And they survived a let-off on 25 minutes following a problem all of their own making.

The hosts attempted to play the ball out of the back but Mark Wilson's sloppy pass gifted Weimann possession and the Stoke man clipped the striker as he went to go through.

The defender was booked with Villa calling for a red and Ashley Westwood's free kick deflected wide.

Brad Guzan – captain for the day – then turned Cameron's cross over 37 minutes.

It was Stoke's best chance and Peter Crouch volleyed over from distance four minutes later.

The hosts, awful for 40 minutes, had woken up and Nathan Baker and Ciaran Clark produced goals-saving blocks to thwart Crouch and Marko Arnautovic after excellent work out wide by Oussama Assaidi

It was rare excitement in a dull half though and Adam replaced Arnautovic at the break in a bid to break the deadlock.

And the substitute delivered six minutes into the half when Crouch nodded down Geoff Cameron's free kick for Adam to turn Baker and shoot beyond Guzan.

Delph was booked for a rash foul on Crouch and then escaped a red for chopping down Adam just outside the area as Herd was booked for kicking the ball away.

But, despite their frustrations, Villa levelled on 66 minutes thanks to a Stoke horror show.

Guzan's deep clearance was headed by Wilson to Pieters who tried to nod back to Begovic – but gave the ball straight to Kozak who fired in.

But parity lasted just four minutes as Villa suffered their own defensive nightmare when Guzan and Herd missed Cameron's cross and Crouch bundled in.

And the striker could have settled the game on 73 minutes when his flick hit the post after Glenn Whelan's header.