Burley made just the two changes with wantaway 'striker' Kenwyne Jones left to sulk elsewhere and the injured Makin dropping out to be replaced by Wright-Phillips and Powell returning from suspension.
Aside from a magnificent performance in goal from newly crowned 'Super Kelvin Davis', Saints defence remained fragile, gifting Stoke a free header at nearly every corner, thanks to a mixture of lack of organisation and height. An improvement over Crystal Palace, but we would still benefit from adding another aggressive central defender and full back to the squad.
Fortunately, going forward Saints were much better with real quality from Surman, Dyer and Safri. Crowd favourite Viafara put in a 'Carlton Palmer' of a performance making up for some poor passing with a well taken goal and some meaty challenges.
Up front Saints were lightweight unless the ball was played along the ground, with Jones' power sorely missed. If he does move this week, as looks increasingly certain with Sunderland the favourites, then Saints simply must invest in a classic Championship centre forward to allow Saints' quality players to play.
On the Cross verdict
After a tough start to the season, it was a massive relief to finally get our first points on the board and against league leaders Stoke. Stoke boss Tony Pullis was typically magnanimous in defeat having 'no complaints' about the result.
In fairness a newly assembled Stoke could have scored five from set pieces and were denied what may have been a goal when the linesman ruled the ball had not crossed the line from a corner.
You could see from the contrasting sizes of the two sets of players in the pre-match huddle that Saints were going to be up against it.
It took a combination of an inspired performance from Kelvin Davis and some equally inspired attacking to earn Saints the result. We certainly needed three today.
Going forward Saints looked almost back to our best, an encouraging sign for the season ahead. If Saints can add much needed extra strength in defence from the likely proceeds from the Kenwyne Jones sale then ambitions of a top six finish are realistic.
Man of the match: Eye-catching performance from Kelvin Davis who baled out his defence with a string of athletic saves. After a difficult start to his Saints career, he finally looked the Championship keeper of the year he once was. The chant of 'Super Kelvin Davis' said it all.
Cameo of the day: After enduring a torrid time against Stoke's defenders, Gregorz Rasiak's celebration showed just how much it meant to him to score, as he lay face down on the turf and savoured the moment. The arch goal poacher strikes again!
Lemon of the day: He may not have been 100% fit, but how was Rory Delap worth £4m to us? An anonymous performance bar the trademark long throws as Safri showed him how it's done.
Thorn in the side: Ricardo Fuller showed he's just as easy to wind up as ever, reacting to provocation from the crowd initially in the perfect way with a goal and then petulantly constantly shaking his finger in the air and tapping his Stoke badge. Needless to say Saints responded in the perfect way with three goals of our own. The unsportsmanlike shot at goal from a drop ball was very disappointing.