Wanderers missed out on the chance to make it a hat-trick of wins as street-wise Stoke pilfered the points with 10 men to continue their own recent revival, writes Pete Oliver.
The visitors played for 70 minutes a man down following the dismissal of defender Maxi Talovierov.
But Wanderers couldn’t punish them further on afternoon that saw the Whites pay the price for failing to score first in dominant first 45 minutes - substitute Thelonius Bair’s first goal for the club coming too late to potentially change the outcome after having twice been picked off by the Potters.
Lamine Cisse’s excellent finish in first-half stoppage gave Stoke a lead they added to with just over an hour gone. And with Wanderers unable to recapture their early spark and reprise some excellent early chances, Steven Schumacher’s former club held out to hand the Whites a third home loss of the campaign.
Schumacher had named an unchanged starting line-up on the back of a win at Norwich ahead of the international break as Wanderers returned home for the first time in almost a month.
Stoke had also signed off with a victory as part of a run of four wins in five unbeaten games but the visitors should have been behind after just 10 minutes of a one-sided first half.
A typically perfectly delivered Ruben Rodrigues’ through-ball released Kyliane Dong but the wideman was denied his first Wanderers’ goal by the outstretched boot of City keeper and captain Viktor Johansson.
Dong was a central figure in proceedings as it was a foul on the winger after he eluded Talovierov that cost the Stoke defender a red card 20 minutes into the contest.
And as Wanderers continued to attack the 10-man Potters down the right flank there were further chances to take the lead before the break through Gaizka Larrazabal, who cut in and bent a shot just wide, and Sam Dalby whose close-range header missed the target from another pin-point Rodrigues’ delivery.
Stoke had barely been out of their half as Larrazabal again went close and Thierry Gale – fresh from an avalanche of goals – whipped an effort just over the bar.
But in the final minute of first-half stoppage time the visitors grabbed a shock lead as Lamine Cisse broke clear and curled a lovely finish around former Stoke loanee Gavin Bazunu, who up to then had barely needed to touch the ball.
Schumacher responded with a change at the start of the second half as he sent on Atsuki Ito in place of Ethan Erhahon as a more attacking midfield option and the pattern was quickly set as Stoke continued to sit back to soak up pressure and try and strike again on the counter-attack.
And 10 minutes into the second half it nearly worked for them again as Cisse struck the inside of a post and Bazunu blocked the follow-up from substitute Luca Bombino.
With Wanderers in danger of losing their momentum, Schumacher swapped the widemen but with half an hour to go the Whites’ task got even harder when Stoke doubled their lead, Ben Wilmot meeting a free-kick to power home a header.
It needed a smart block from Bazunu to step Cisse making it three moments later and while Wanderers got themselves back on the front foot, City’s lead never really look in serious danger.
One goal back any earlier might have changed everything but even though Johansson had his palms stung by substitutes Samuel Iling-Junior and Jayden Nelson, the Whites struggled to make a real clear-cut chance to set up a possible fightback before the final few minutes.
It was into stoppage time when Bair forced Johansson into an excellent save from a stooping header and there wasn’t enough time left on the clock to complete the comeback after the big striker had taken the ball down well from Larrazabal's pass and fired into the bottom corner, one last opening disappearing when Eoin Toal headed at the grateful Stoke skipper to seal the points.
Wanderers: Bazunu; Larrazabal, Toal, Davies (Bair 82), Conway; Dong (Iling-Junior, 56), Sheehan, Erhahon (Ito HT), Gale (Nelson 56); Rodrigues (Hardy 63); Dalby. Substitutes: Bonham, Simons, Brunt, Bair, Famewo.
Booked: Erhahon, Conway
Stoke City: Johansson; Wilmot, Talovierov, Graham; Johnson, Soumaré (Lawal 69), Galbraith, Bocat; McGlynn (Tchamadeu 69), Devenny (Bombino HT); Cisse (Hirst 69). Substitutes: Griffiths, Pearson Bozeník, Jun-Ho, Manhoef.
Booked: McGlynn
Sent off: Talovierov
Referee: Thomas Kirk
Attendance: 26,018 (4,602 away)