Stoke had enough chances to take at least a point from their 2-1 defeat to Swansea but ultimately came off second best in too many of the game's biggest moments.
Eric Bocat scored a good goal at the end of a good move but Sorba Thomas, so often the hero over the past year, missed a very presentable chance at 1-1 and several other lower profile opportunities were passed up by a poor final pass or shot.
Swansea scored the winner immediately after the bulk of their substitutions all came at once, taking advantage of a brief period of chaos partially brought about by the changes and kept the ball impressively to see the game out.
In all, they looked closer to the finished article as a team with Stoke still looking to reinforce their squad and, in doing so, retool their attack in the transfer market.
They will hope that those moves will help them become more efficient in front of goal, something they've needed to do for some time.
After the game, manager Mark Robins said he and the club's recruitment team are hoping to add to the squad soon ahead of a tough run of fixtures through the rest of August.
The Championship provides a long, testing campaign and it's clear the club is well aware of what it needs to do while the transfer window is open to give itself the best chance of success.