STOKE brought a four-match losing run in the Barclays Premier League to an end as first-half goals from Matthew Upson and Peter Crouch earned them a comfortable victory over Swansea.
Potters boss Tony Pulis made 11 changes from the side knocked out of the Europa League by Valencia in midweek and he got the result he was looking for, with Upson heading in his first goal for the club in the 24th minute before Crouch followed suit with another header from a set-piece 15 minutes later.
Scott Sinclair missed a glorious chance for Swansea in the opening two minutes and they had to wait until injury-time for another one, Asmir Begovic pushing Steven Caulker's header on to the bar.
The result lifted them back above their opponents and into 12th place, and Pulis said: "It's very important we get the points on the board as quickly as we can."
Swansea suffered a blow before kick-off when Michel Vorm was ruled out by illness, leaving Gerhard Tremmel to make his Premier League debut. And boss Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for the Dutchman.
"I thought Gerhard dealt well with most of what he had to do," he said.
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