STOKE CITY 3

(Lawrence 30 pen, Fuller 81, Sidibe 90)

ASTON VILLA 2

(Carew 63, Laursen 84)

GOAL ATTEMPTS

Stoke City 7 (4 on target)

Aston Villa 5 (2 on target)

THE REFEREE

Mark Halsey (Lancashire) 7

CARD WATCH

YELLOW – Stoke: Kitson (foul, 56). Villa: none. RED – None.

THE CROWD

Attendance 27,500

MATCH RATING

Entertainment 8

SORENSEN: Put his name on just about everything flung into box and no realistic chance with the goals. 8

GRIFFIN: Rarely left behind by Ashley Young after bringing experience and temperament to one of his team's more testing tasks of the day 8

DICKINSON: Belied his relative lack of experience as he chose the right moments to dive in or stand off to help frustrate Villa 8

CORT: Dovetailed remarkably well alongside new sidekick Abdoulaye Faye in central defence, while sticking to his own guns defensively 8

AB FAYE: Marvellous first game. Led by example and appeared to frighten the life out of Agbonlahor. On this evidence, a magnificent new asset. Best debut by a centre-half since Gerry Taggart? 9

LAWRENCE: Cool head on the penalty, while his stamina throughout justified his return to starting line-up 8

AM FAYE: Easy to overlook his no frills contribution in midfield, but takes great credit for helping blunt Villa's midfield creativity 8

OLOFINJANA: Got caught a few times in possession, but immensely strong presence when required and his fitness is clearly improving 8

DELAP: Just how long were those throws? But contributed far more, including winning the penalty 8

KITSON: Not too many sniffs, if any, at the business end, but knuckled down for the cause in less spectacular areas 8

FULLER: What a second goal, one of his very best, as he troubled Villa's back line at every opportunity. 9

SUBSTITUTES

DIAO (Am Faye, 72): Thrown on to regain some control of a match that could have slid beyond Stoke at that stage 7

SIDIBE (Kitson, 76): What a goal, what a smile. Thank goodness his head is much bigger than his ego 7

CRESSWELL (Fuller, 87): Fresh legs for the tiring Fuller and caught a couple of half-sighters at goal. 7

Not used: Simonsen, Whelan, Shawcross, Wilkinson.

ASTON VILLA: 1 Friedel, 2 L Young, 21 Shorey (18 Routledge, 73), 5 Laursen, 15 Davies, 20 Reo-Coker, 19 Petrov, 6 Barry, 7 A Young, 10 Carew, 11 Agbonlahor. Not used: 13 Taylor, 9 Harewood, 16 Knight, 17 Salifou, 26 Gardner, 27 Osbourne.