Wilfried Bony opened his Stoke City account by scoring twice to help his side to a 3-1 win over former suitors Swansea City at the bet365 Stadium this evening.
To make matters worse for the Swans, who are now winless in nine in the Premier League, another of their former players in Joe Allen created both of Bony's close-range goals.
The visitors had earlier pegged their opponents back through a Wayne Routledge header, but they struggled to push on and in the end it was former boys Bony and Allen who piled further misery on Bob Bradley's down-and-out side.
In-form Stoke were ahead through their first shot of the match, and it seemed almost inevitable as the two former Swansea players combined to give their side an early breakthrough.
Allen, who spent his formative years in South Wales, turned the ball goalwards from a corner and Bony was there to prod it home to end a 23-match run without finding the net for club and country.
The Potters rallied and so nearly had a second just moments later, only for Lukasz Fabianski to get across to keep out Ryan Shawcross's goal-bound header.
The visitors were soon level, however, thanks to a rare headed goal from Routledge, who got the better of Phil Bardsley to nod home Gylfi Sigurdsson's centre just five minutes after seeing his side fall behind.
Stoke's hopes of keeping a third clean sheet on the spin may have been over, but they had the better of the first-half chances and hit the post three times in an incredible 20-minute spell.
Charlie Adam, in for the injured Geoff Cameron in Stoke's only change this evening, was responsible for two of those near misses - first clipping the outside of the upright with a long-range drive, before sending another belter against the other post.
Marko Arnautovic was the next player to be denied by the frame of the goal, having done the hard work by rounding Fabianski from an Allen through-ball but failing to roll into an unguarded net.
Sigurdsson and Routledge both had attempts of their own at the other end of the field, both of which Lee Grant kept out with relative ease, but it was Mark Hughes's side who were the more aggrieved to go into the break all square.
Both managers were forced into a change in the first half, and it was one of those replacements - Ramadan Sobhi - who created the pivotal third goal, as he got the better of his man and fired in a ball which Alfie Mawson turned into his own net on just his second Prem start.
Bony had a good chance inside the box moments beforehand, which he could only place wide from seven yards out, and that proved to be a rare opening for forward players at both ends of the pitch.
Neil Taylor and Adam both saw attempts sail over, while Routledge failed to pick out Fernando Llorente when in a two-on-two situation as both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances in the remainder.
Stoke then put together a real quality move which belied what had come before it in the previous 20 minutes or so, however - Arnautovic's flick playing in Allen, who was initially thwarted by Fabianski but had the composure to look up and pick out Bony from the rebound to do the rest from five yards out.
Borja Gonzalez skimmed the bar with a deflected shot 10 minutes from time, and Swansea felt that they should have had a big lifeline in the match late on when referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot.
Erik Pieters hauled down Routledge just outside the box, though, with the official instead awarding a free kick after consulting with the linesman as Stoke held out for a straightforward win.
Defeat for Swansea extends their wait for a win to a ninth game, leaving them five points from safety now with more than a quarter of the campaign played, while Stoke are up to 12th thanks to a third win on the bounce.
Daniel Lewis
