Dale Eve and his Stoke City Under 21 teammates suffered a disappointing Barclays U21 Premier League defeat away at Blackburn Rovers in a seven goal thriller.
Goals from Eddy Lecygne and Robbie Parry were not enough to prevent Glyn Hodges' side from their second successive loss following defeat at home to Reading a week earlier.
Rovers put their defeat to Middlesbrough behind them when they got two goals apiece from Connor Mahoney and Dean Rittenberg, along with a Modou Cham strike secured the hosts all three points in emphatic fashion.
It was a cagey affair early on before the home side took the lead inside the opening 15 minutes.
Full back Jack Doyle broke impressively down the left before delivering an accurate cross for Mahoney, who headed past Eve from close range.
Rovers almost doubled their lead minutes later when a Mahoney corner was deflected goalwards, before a Stoke City defender hooked the ball off the line.
Eric Kinder's side continued to force pressure on City's backline, with their pace causing plenty of chaos throughout.
Blackburn came desperately close in grabbing a second once more when a thunderbolt from Cham slammed off the underside of the crossbar and onto the line.
City failed to threaten for most of the first half before finally calling Rovers goalkeeper Ryan Crump into action just before the half hour mark.
The Rovers debutant saved well down low when Jack Nardiello stormed in on goal before being ushered into another fine stop moments later.
Stoke’s brief pressure was rewarded when Lecygne bagged his first goal of the season on 39 minutes.
As Curtis Strong's cross deflected off Mahoney onto the crossbar and behind, the resulting corner was only cleared as far as Lecygne who smashed the ball through the crowd of bodies and into the bottom corner of the net.
No sooner had Hodges' side drawn level before the hosts immediately retook the lead from the penalty spot.
Another Doyle cross caused problems in the Potters area before the referee blew for handball and awarded Rovers a spot-kick.
Rittenberg stepped up and made no mistake as his shot found the net via the underside of the bar and giving the hosts the lead at the break.
City responded in fine fashion after the interval and was immediately level just 30 seconds after the restart.
Parry took full advantage of the space afforded to him as he burst through on goal to fire home from ten yards and bagging his second goal of the campaign.
However, as seen in the first half, the reaction from Rovers was immediate.
From the kick-off, the hosts attacked down the right flank, where Mahoney centered for Rittenburg who lashed it past Eve to grab his second of the game and put the home side back in front.
Stoke City tried to salvage a third leveler as Nardiello fired wide on the hour mark before Blackburn grabbed the crucial goal when Cham found the net to put daylight between the two sides.
The wide man was right on cue to meet Rittenberg's cross at the back post and dispatch his strike with aplomb.
It was a goal that sunk the last teeth into Stoke City, who struggled to comeback before Mahoney bagged his second of the game after taking advantage of some hesitant defending to slot home and clinch the win.
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