Aston Villa claimed what could prove to be a crucial 3-1 victory from their trip to fellow strugglers Stoke City this afternoon.

© Neal Simpson / PA Photos

Visiting Villa dominated large parts of the opening 45 minutes, but they only had one goal to show for their efforts.

It arrived in the ninth minute, when Matthew Lowton picked out Gabriel Agbonlahor inside the area with a cross from the right and the Villa striker guided a header into the net from close range.

Further chances fell to Jordan Bowery and Andreas Weimann before the whistle, but the latter struck the post while the former dragged his shot from the edge of the area just wide of the target.

Stoke introduced Michael Kightly into the action shortly after the restart and the winger eventually made a telling impact with 10 minutes left to play. Charlie Adam failed to make a connection with the ball inside the area, but winger Kightly reacted quickly to fired beyond Brad Guzan.

However, that prompted a positive reply from Paul Lambert's Villa, who regained the lead with three minutes left to play courtesy of full-back Lowton when he fired in from distance.

Then, as the match ticked into stoppage time, a quick counter-attack ended with leading goalscorer Christian Benteke making sure of the outcome for Villa, who have moved out of the relegation zone.