Steve Cotterill endured a bitter-sweet return to the Britannia Stadium as Gary Cahill answered the Stoke boo-boys by netting Burnley's winner in a hard-fought Coca-Cola Championship encounter.

Cotterill, who controversially quit the Potteries after just 13 matches in charge two years ago to become assistant manager at Sunderland, was subjected to merciless abuse from the home fans from the moment he emerged from the tunnel.

His difficult afternoon also included an angry altercation with a photographer as he made his way to the dug-out before the game but it ended in the best possible manner as Cahill, on loan from Aston Villa, bundled home the 78th-minute effort which gave the visitors their deserved win.

Given the abuse he received, Cotterill reacted in a subdued manner, limiting himself to a single clenched fist of celebration before returning to his touchline seat.

But no doubt he will savour the moment in greater depth on his way back to Lancashire as he plots the downfall of Liverpool in next Friday's FA Cup third round tie.

Certainly on this evidence Rafael Benitez has more to worry about than Arsene Wenger, whose assistant Pat Rice departed immediately after Cahill's winner, presumably unimpressed by Stoke's effort.

Tony Pulis may point to a quirk in the Christmas fixture programme which condemned his side to play four matches in nine days while Burnley, because of a postponement and abandonment, had only two and a quarter, but the home manager knows his team were badly outplayed.

That Burnley did not find themselves in front at the break was purely down to their own failure to take any of the trio of clear chances they created.

Michael Duff scuffed a shot wide after Micah Hyde had set him free inside the Stoke box, then Hyde himself just failed to find the target with a first-time shot after being set up by Ian Moore.

In between Stoke keeper Steve Simonsen had produced a tremendous save to deny Moore, whose angled volley appeared to be dipping in.

All the hosts could muster in response was the single opportunity Adi Akinbiyi's unselfish attitude created for Marcus Hall, the forward spurning an attempted shot through a crowd of Burnley defenders to instead lay the ball off to his on-rushing team-mate.

Fortunately for Burnley, keeper Brian Jensen was alive to the danger and was able to smother Hall's shot at close range.

Stoke enjoyed marginally better fortune at the start of the second half and Darel Russell almost atoned for a bungled free-kick by flashing a 20-yard shot past the post with Jensen beaten.

A comedy of errors in the visitors' box, which started when hesitation between Jensen and Mo Camara allowed Akinbiyi to nip in and steal possession, almost ended in disaster when Frank Sinclair - who had already picked up an incredible 11th booking of the season - smashed a clearance into Camara and saw the ball screw inches away from his own goal.

But the improvement proved to be nothing more than a false dawn for Stoke, who failed to clear Tony Grant's late corner and fell to Cahill's first goal since joining the Turf Moor outfit in November.

Teams:

Stoke Simonsen, Buxton, Thomas, Duberry, Hall, Russell, Eustace (Greenacre 71), Henry, Clarke (Neal 78), Akinbiyi, Noel-Williams.

Subs Not Used: de Goey, Palmer, Denny.

Burnley Jensen, Camara, Cahill, McGreal, Duff (Roche 43), Sinclair, Branch, O'Connor (Chaplow 85), Hyde, Moore, Grant.

Subs Not Used: O'Neill, Pilkington, Sanokho.

Booked: Sinclair.

Goals: Cahill 79.

Att: 15,689

Ref: P Joslin (Nottinghamshire).