Stoke 1 - Coventry 2

Stoke suffered a second successive home defeat as Coventry leapfrogged them into seventh in the Coca-Cola Championship with a fortunate 3-1 win at the Britannia Stadium.

After a lifeless first half the visitors took an undeserved two-goal lead through Michael Mifsud and Dele Adebola, and though Liam Lawrence pulled a goal back from the penalty spot, Mifsud's second ended hopes of a comeback.

Stoke went close inside the opening minute when Lawrence played a neat ball in behind the defence to find Ricardo Fuller, but his shot went over the crossbar.On the half-hour Robbie Simpson beat his marker for pace and fired a shot across the face of goal that drifted wide, but those exertions proved too great for Simpson and he hobbled off shortly afterwards to be replaced by Adebola.With the game drifting towards a goalless first half, debutant Danny Pugh looked to make an immediate impact, swinging a sweet left foot through a shot from 25 yards that edged wide.

On the stroke of half-time Cresswell almost put his side in front when Lawrence swung the ball in and the striker's header hit the post, although he had already been flagged offside.