Stoke City 1 Manchester City 0:Stoke City got under the noses of the rich and famous at the Britannia Stadium this afternoon when digging in for a 1-0 win over the world's wealthiest club Manchester City, despite seeing Irishman Rory Delap sent off in the first half.

Delap’s dismissal after a reckless couple of tackles on Shaun Wright-Phillips appeared to signal the end of Stoke’s hopes of moving out of the bottom three but James Beattie headed home just before the break.

City were invited to break the homeside down and Elano was introduced by Mark Hughes to provide the killer pass from midfield, but they were largely restricted to long range shots, most of which found the fans in the farther flung rows.

The win is Stoke’s first at home since November and ended a four-game winless run.

City fielded the same side that beat Newcastle in midweek, which now includes seven new signings in the Mark Hughes regime at a cost of £93million. Two more, Shay Given and Roque Santa Cruz, are expected to be signed before the transfer window ends at a combined cost of a further £30million.

Stephen Ireland, one of the four remnants of City’s thriftier past, was the first to get a sight of goal when he volleyed wide from the edge of the box.

But after 19 minutes Robinho wasted a glorious chance when City broke from defending a corner to put together a high-speed passing move that created the chance which unfortunately for the visitors mishit straight into Thomas Sorensen’s hands.

Stoke worked hard to get the visitors onto the back foot, and to two of Delap’s towering throws Ryan Shawcross got in a dangerous header and a neat back-heel that almost caught out Hart.

Then Matthew Etherington got away on the left and fired in a dangerous cross that Fuller could not turn on quickly enough to get in a telling shot.

Amdy Faye needed lengthy treatment after a clash of heads with Nedum Onuoha, producing the five minutes of added time before the break that was to prove costly for the visitors.

The game erupted after 37 minutes when Delap responded to a heavy Wright-Phillips tackle on Etherington that went unpunished.

As winger moved away with the ball, Delap chased him and tripped the winger from behind, compounding the offence by seemingly kicking the ball at the grounded England winger.

Manchester City players were incensed. Micah Richards and Craig Bellamy rushed to the scene, as TV replays showed Wright-Phillips kicking out at Delap.

The Britannia Stadium was now a cauldron of resentment as Stoke fans howled their anger at the West Yorkshire official and Wright-Phillips.

But Stoke responded superbly when they took the lead in the fourth of those five added minutes when Beattie headed home an Etherington cross.

Stoke, who had sent on Cresswell for Fuller at the interval, were under instant pressure in the second half.

Manchester City then took off Pablo Zabaleta and sent on Elano, whose first involvement was a 56th-minute booking for a trip on Etherington.

Stoke were now defending in depth and Robinho was finding it increasingly difficult to have an impact and repeatedly miscued long ranger efforts on goal.

Bellamy volleyed wide and Stoke continued to battle away as Griffin replaced Amdy Faye.

Another Robinho effort flashed well wide before Stoke introduced Ibrahima Sonko to help out at the back and hung on to take the points.