An early penalty from Bojan Krkic proved decisive as Stoke City beat Swansea City 1-0 in the Barclays Premier League at the Liberty Stadium.
The Spanish forward won the spot-kick and converted what was the only goal in a match of few chances. Jonjo Shelvey came inches away from equalising in the second half, but his drive from a tight angle rebounded to safety off the inside of Jack Butland's far post.
The result secured consecutive away wins for Stoke for the first time since December 2011 and moves Mark Hughes's side to 11th, above Swansea, who are winless in five league matches since beating Manchester United in August.
Both sides made two changes to their starting XIs, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ki Sung-yueng dropping to the bench for the hosts, while Stoke were without Mame Biram Diouf, who remains on compassionate leave, and the injured Jon Walters.
After early Swansea pressure, Stoke had the lead within four minutes. Bojan's weaving solo run took him into the penalty area, where he was felled by Ashley Williams.
The former Barcelona forward took the penalty and dispatched his effort from the spot, sending Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way as he found the top corner.
Bafetimbi Gomis could have done better with a free header after being found by Jack Cork's cross, before Butland had a let-off as he was able to tackle Andre Ayew after sending a clearance straight at the Ghana forward.
Shelvey shot straight at Butland from outside the box, while Glen Johnson struck wide at the other end in a low-key end to the first half.
Marko Arnautovic had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second half after he tapped home Erik Pieters' cross from the left.
The hosts thought they were level just before the hour when Shelvey showed great strength to get past Philipp Wollscheid and fired under Butland from a tight angle, only to be denied when his shot hit the inside of the far post and bounced out.
Stoke responded as Arnautovic beat the offside trap and got on the end of a Xherdan Shaqiri pass, but flicked his effort past a post under pressure from Fabianski.
Sigurdsson was brought off the bench for Swansea and he curled an excellent long-range effort just wide, while substitute Eder struck wide in the closing stages.
Swansea would come to an equaliser as Stoke celebrated a third victory in a row.
Swansea manager Garry Monk: "We went five games without a win last season. I'm not worried. We'll come through it no problem."
Stoke manager Mark Hughes: "Sometimes you think you've scored too early. But we had control of the game. Maybe if we'd taken more care with the final pass we might have capitalised on more opportunities."
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