Sheffield United moved seven points clear of the Championship relegation zone after claiming a 2-1 win away at Stoke, who finished the match with 10 men.
Second-half goals from Jairo Riedewald and former Stoke loanee Tom Cannon secured all three points for Chris Wilder's side, who have moved up two places in the standings to 17th.
Ben Wilmot halved the deficit with 25 minutes of normal time remaining but Stoke, who lost Ben Pearson to an 88th-minute red card, were unable to find an equaliser and they have now failed to register a win in six out of their last seven matches.
During the match, Sheffield United's Andre Brooks was stopped in his tracks when he was just about to send a cross in as what looked like an inflatable beach ball was thrown onto the pitch from the crowd.
The Blades were well on top in the first half and they threatened to take the lead in the 11th minute when Harrison Burrows' angled drive across goal had to be cleared away from danger by Ben Gibson.
The visitors continued to pile on the pressure thereafter with Callum O'Hare scooping his shot over the crossbar and another attempt from Burrows going wide shortly after an effort from ex-Stoke forward Tyrese Campbell had been blocked.
After a 20-minute spell without any goalmouth action of note, O'Hare had a great chance to put Sheffield United in front but he lifted his shot well over the crossbar with Femi Seriki's low cross just slightly behind him.
Stoke livened up a little as the first half drew to a close, but they were a touch fortunate to go into the break with the score still goalless.
The hosts did find themselves trailing, however, within minutes of the restart as Riedewald poked the ball home from a couple of yards out after Tyler Bindon's effort had crept under goalkeeper Viktor Johansson.
And they fell further behind in the 53rd minute courtesy of the unmarked Cannon's perfectly-timed volley at the back post from Burrows' looping delivery.
Mark Robins made four changes just before the hour mark in a bid to get Stoke back into the game and it paid dividends in the 65th minute, when captain Wilmot fired the ball in off the crossbar after a long throw-in had caused chaos in the United defence.
Buoyed by a first goal in three matches, the home side pushed hard for a leveller with substitute Robert Bozenik missing the target from 12 yards out and Bosun Lawal's fierce drive from the corner of the box being tipped over by Michael Cooper.
But they were not ultimately able to conjure one up and their misery was compounded in the closing stages as substitute Pearson was given a straight red card for pulling down Patrick Bamford when the forward had clean run on goal ahead of him.
Bamford had come close to making the score 3-1 a few minutes earlier, only for a strong hand from Johansson to deny him.
The managers
Stoke's Mark Robins:
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Sheffield United's Chris Wilder:
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