Last updated on .From the section Championship

Substitute Oli McBurnie almost snatched an equaliser for Swansea at Stoke

Joe Allen's disputed goal against ex-club Swansea City saw Stoke City claim their second league win of the season.

Benik Afobe appeared to be off-side when the ball rebounded off him, but Swansea waited in vain for a flag as Wales midfielder Allen lashed home.

Stoke should have led before then, with Afobe and Tom Ince in particular guilty of glaring misses for the home side.

Swansea responded strongly and Jack Butland produced smart saves to deny Daniel James and then Oli McBurnie.

With both sides having been relegated from the Premier League last season, the pre-match table suggested that sixth-placed Swansea had adjusted better to the Championship than Stoke, languishing in 20th.

But while Stoke manager Gary Rowett was able to keep the majority of his squad, opposite number Graham Potter saw his playing resources trimmed.

The difference in budgets was underlined on Tuesday night by Ryan Woods lining up at the bet365 Stadium in a Stoke shirt, after Swansea had refused to meet Brentford's asking price despite a drawn-out pursuit of the 24-year-old midfielder.

Instead Stoke stepped in and Woods produced a display that rubbed salt in Swansea wounds, already raw from an injury list that saw Potter forced into seven changes as he was without injured midfielders Bersant Celina, Jay Fulton, Tom Carroll and Leroy Fer.

However, with the experienced Wayne Routledge playing his first game of the season and Nathan Dyer equally lively on the opposite wing, Swansea had the best of the early exchanges and Matt Grimes and Kyle Naughton both had Butler diving around the Stoke goal.

But the home side showed signs of escaping their stupor when a long ball from Ryan Shawcross sent Afobe racing through on goal, only for Dutch keeper Erwin Mulder to race off his line to smother the chance.

Afobe, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, had an even better chance soon after but swept the ball just wide of the post with his left foot.

Swansea again breathed a sigh of relief when Ince somehow scooped the ball wide after being picked out by Mame Biram Diouf's unselfish back-header.

Ince at least had a hand in Stoke's goal, albeit fortuitously, as his shot deflected off Afobe and straight to Allen, who swept home from almost point-blank range.

Both Afobe and Allen looked to have strayed off-side before Ince struck the ball, but the match officials waved away the Swansea protests.

Swans midfielder James went close to equalising but Butland was alert to drop down and gather his effort, while substitute McBurnie forced the England keeper to athletically tip over the bar in the closing moments as Stoke held on.

Swansea manager Graham Potter told BBC Radio Wales:

"It [Stoke's goal] looks on the tv that it's off-side, but that happens, that's life. It's disappointing from our perspective.

"We put a hell of a shift in and the character of the players, the attitude of the players, the courage of the players was really good.

"We did a lot of things well tonight and... we created a few opportunities ourselves."

Stoke midfielder Joe Allen told BBC Radio Wales:

"It was weird in two ways, obviously to score against my old club but also my gut instinct told me I was off-side so I was expecting the flag to go up.

"It was great to catch up with some of my old team-mates, although obviously they're not so happy with me! But what can I say, I had a job to do.

"It's been a bit of a sluggish start from our point of view. There's been improvement in the last few weeks... so it was really important to get all three points today."