Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam admits Aston Villa deserved their three points on Saturday.

The visitors looked like paying for their failure to make that superiority count when Adam teed up fellow substitute Michael Kightly to tuck home a leveller late on.

But little could be done to keep out Matt Lowton's long-range volley and there were no complaints about the final result.

Adam, 27, who joined Stoke from Liverpool last August, said: "We shot ourselves in the foot again.

"We got back to 1-1 and tried to go for the game. The way we played a point probably would have been a good result but we have conceded three and it is difficult to take.

"Fair play to Aston Villa. Both teams are under a bit of pressure but the way they played was magnificent.

"I think the goal the lad (Lowton) scored was an incredible strike, you can't take that away from him."