Stoke's Dean Whitehead was relieved after his late goal helped his club to a nail-biting 3-2 win over Birmingham City on Tuesday night.
The Potters had lost their last four league matches and were in desperate need of three points which looked assured when Ricardo Fuller added to Robert Huth's earlier goal with just 20 minutes remaining.
But Birmingham hit back to level the scores, making a draw look inevitable until Whitehead popped up with a late finish to ease some of the relegation zone pressure that was heaping.
"Our main priority was to get the three points and we got that in the end. They put us under a lot of pressure and pushed us back but it was nice to get win in the end," he told Sky Sports.
The win allowed the Black Cats to move up to 15th on the table, three points clear of the drop zone.
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