Stoke snatched a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion thanks to Mamady Sidibe's late goal at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Tony Pulis's side have turned the Britannia into an intimidating arena for opponents this season and Sidibe's winner with six minutes to play was their fifth in seven home games this season.
The victory kept Stoke away from the relegation zone and left Albion - promoted along with City last season - rooted to the bottom of the table.
Rory Delap had an early chance to arrow in one of his trademark long throws in the opening minutes but West Brom's defenders managed to clear the danger.
Stoke suffered a blow in the 10th minute when striker Dave Kitson was stretchered off with a knee injury.
Albion keeper Scott Carson showed no sign of a hangover from his England error against Germany in midweek as he saved Sidibe's 25-yard strike.
A second Delap throw, this time from the right, caused greater anxiety as Gianni Zuiverloon missed his clearing header and the ball skidded straight through to Carson.
Ishmael Miller, deployed in a lone role up front for Albion, was starved of any decent service but managed to work space for a shot dipped just over the crossbar.
Cresswell appealed half-heartedly for a penalty when he was strong-armed off the ball by a combination of Jonas Olsson and Abdoulaye Meite, but was rightly turned down.
Carson was again alert after 52 minutes, getting down well to gather Tom Soares' long-range effort.
West Brom were struggling to get a foothold in proceedings until Miller again tried his luck from an unlikely position.
This time his chipped shot lurched high towards the far post, forcing Thomas Sorensen to concede a corner.
Jonathan Greening headed wide from Chris Brunt's left-sided delivery.
Substitute Michael Tonge was next to test Carson, in what was fast becoming a nervy time for the 23-year-old. He spilled the shot but regained possession before Sidibe arrived.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
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