Besiktas 3 Stoke 1: Potters knocked off top spot after Upson sees red in Istanbul

Stoke”s second string crashed to a defeat in the cacophonous Inonu Stadium that saw Tony Pulis”s side relinquish top spot in Europa League Group E to their conquerors, Besiktas.

The Potters had already qualified for the Europa League knockout stages before tonight, but their much-changed side looked up for a daunting task in Istanbul when Ricardo Fuller handed them the lead after 29 minutes with a wickedly deflected shot.

The home side were always the more threatening but were unable to force an equaliser. But the game changed when Matthew Upson was sent off for bringing down Hugo Almeida when clean through in the penalty area.

Manuel Fernandes scored the resulting penalty and from then on the result appeared a foregone conclusion as Mustafa Pektemek headed in from a corner and then subsistute Edu blasted home a brilliant third.

More to follow.

Game-changing: Matthew Upson (left) fouls Hugo Almeida (right) to concede a penalty

Turkish delight: Manuel Fernandes (centre) celebrates with Necip Uysal (right) and Mustafa Pektemek

Turkish delight: Ricardo Fuller (right) celebrates with his team-mates after scoring the opener in Istanbul

Pulling the trigger: Fuller fires in a deflected shot to put the Potters into the lead

Masked ball: Salif Diao (right) battles for the ball as Veli Kavlak goes down on top of it

On the charge: Stoke defender Andy Wilkinson (right) flies past Egemen Korkmaz

MATCH FACTS

Besiktas: Recber, Hilbert, Sivok, Korkmaz, Koybasi, Ernst, Uysal, Holosko, Fernandes, Kavlak, Almeida.

Subs not used: Gonen, Toraman, Pektemek, Dag, Julio Alves, Sidnei, De Oliveira.

Goals: Fernandes, Pektemek, Edu

Booked: Hilbert

Stoke: Begovic, Wilkinson, Upson, Diao, Higginbotham, Delap, Palacios, Arismendi, Jones, Jerome, Fuller.

Booked: Begovic, Fuller

Sent off: Upson

Subs not used: Nash, Pennant, Clarkson, Dawson.

Scorer: Fuller 29.

Referee: Marcin Borski (Poland).