Lamine Cisse and Ben Wilmot scored as Stoke City's 10 men beat Bolton Wanderers to climb to fourth in the Championship.

Stoke were bottom at the start of last month after losing their first three league games, but Mark Robins' men have shot up the table, taking 16 points from their past 18.

They played over 70 minutes at the Toughsheet Stadium with 10 men after Maksym Talovierov was sent off and it spurred them on to win at Bolton for the first time since October 1990.

Theo Bair pulled a goal back in stoppage time and it was an unhappy first reunion for Bolton manager Stephen Schumacher with Stoke after his sacking in September 2024.

Kyliane Dong missed an early chance when he was through one-on-one on Viktor Johansson, but the Stoke goalkeeper saved with his feet and Sam Dalby could not convert the rebound.

Stoke were reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes when Talovierov was sent off for a sliding tackle on Dong with referee Tom Kirk ruling the Ukrainian had denied a goal-scoring opportunity.

Bolton laid siege to the visitors' goal and Josh Sheehan, Gaizka Larrazabal, Dalby and Thierry Gale all had efforts on goal before Cisse struck to turn the game on its head.

Ethan Galbraith found Cisse out on the left and the Frenchman cut inside before scoring into the far bottom corner in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time for his first goal of the season.

Cisse was denied a second by the post when his shot came off the bottom of the far upright and Gavin Bazunu did well to touch Luca Bombino's follow-up from the rebound wide.

It got even worse for Bolton on 62 minutes when Wilmot powered home a header from Jack McGlynn's curling free-kick to record his first goal since February.

Bolton poured forward and they managed a total of 30 goal attempts as Sheehan, Hardie, Jayden Nelson, Dalby and Larrazabal all threatened to hit the net.

Blair went close with a header before he shot home in the second minute of stoppage time, but it was not enough to prevent Bolton crashing back down to earth after their back-to-back wins.

Bolton manager Stephen Schumacher told BBC Radio Manchester:

"I feel frustrated, [it's] not good enough from us. We made key errors in real bad times in the game to give them two goals.

"The overall assessment is they showed more experience and more quality than we did today, and more energy.

"That's the most disappointing thing because we knew this was a big opportunity for us coming into this game, especially when they went down to 10 men.

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy just because they had the man sent off. They were going to make it hard for us. But when we did create big chances, then you've got to score."

Stoke manager Mark Robins told BBC Radio Stoke:

"To go a man down in, you know in really ridiculous circumstances; Maxie has been found guilty of being the last man, of bringing him down, and it was always difficult from that minute. It's always difficult because we had to sustain loads of pressure.

"I've got to say, it's three weeks since we last played, and nine of the lads that have been away, some have played three or four games in 11 days, so to come back and put that sort of shift in is outstanding, and especially with a player less, to create the chances and take those chances.

"I mean it, they were absolutely outstanding, I was absolutely delighted.

"I just stood back and watched the celebrations at the end and that's just brilliant for me to see. You've got to find a way to win and the players found a way to win."