A fixture between Stoke City and Millwall never lacks passion and neither side let the fans down in a real battle at the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke heads still seemed to be in the dressing room after two minutes when a half-headed clearance by Michael Duberry was chested down by Barry Hayles and volleyed goalwards but an alert Ed de Goey tipped over.
City rallied round and almost took the lead after 15 minutes, but after Ade Akinbiyi had beat the offside trap and turned the last defender, his shot rolled past Graham Stack's right-hand post.
The away side went close again eight minutes before the break when Alan Dunne fired a 30-yard drive, but despite beating de Goey, the ball could not find a way past his left-hand post.
The Potters came out all guns blazing after the break but still could not find the magic touch.
Both Carl Asaba and Gerry Taggart had efforts in the 54th minute but Stack was on hand to save his side.
Stoke's frustrations began to show with both Asaba and Akinbiyi rattling the woodwork but Tony Pulis' decision to add to the strikeforce with Chris Greenacre proved to be the winning formula.
Akinbiyi held off pressure on the right of the box and gained space to whip a low ball across the face of goal where Greenacre was waiting to finish from six yards for the winner.