Tim Sherwood saw his first Premier League game in charge of Aston Villa end in defeat as the Villains were beaten 2-1 by Stoke City at Villa Park this afternoon.

After a lacklustre opening period, Stoke almost took the lead when Stephen Ireland connected with an Erik Pieters cross, leaving Brad Guzan to make a good save down low.

The chance spurred Villa into life and they soon went ahead through Scott Sinclair, who diverted a header into the top-left corner from Fabian Delph's delivery on 20 minutes.

The goal seemed to take the wind out Stoke and Victor Moses showed his side's frustration with a poor attempt from distance that was comfortably kept out by Guzan.

It appeared as though the hosts would take a 1-0 lead into the interval, only for Diouf to rise highest and head home from Ireland's cross right on the stroke of half time.

Both sides seemed to cancel each other out in a second half in which Ireland created the period's first chance with a tame long-range shot that failed to trouble Guzan.

Chances were few and far between as the game headed towards a tense finish, but Christian Benteke almost made the most of some shaky Stoke defending when he latched onto Delph's ball, only for his header to be blocked on its way to goal.

Guzan reacted smartly to keep out a volley from Jonathan Walters at the back post in the dying minutes, but his heroics were not enough as Moses converted a last-gasp penalty after the dismissed Ron Vlaar brought him down.