Goalie Viktor Johansson was the star player as Stoke began their journey without Steven Schumacher with a 2-1 win on penalties against Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup.
The League Two team had hopes of making it to the fourth round of the tournament for the first ever time.
Charlie Adam’s team pushed the game to a penalty shoot-out after Rhys Bennett scored to equalize Michael Rose’s goal in extra time at the bet365 Stadium.
Johansson denied spot-kicks from Phoenix Patterson and Ryan Graydon, while Mipo Odubeko and Ryan Broom missed their penalties for Stoke, who fired Schumacher earlier in the week.
Jay Lynch, who saved Stoke’s initial penalty in the shoot-out, made several great saves to keep the home team from scoring.
Million Manhoef hit the crossbar with a free-kick, and Andrew Moran missed the rebound chance.
In the second half, Lynch, who had previously stopped Lewis Koumas, denied the Welsh player once again and made another excellent save to block Eric-Junior Bocat's shot.
Rose found the net with a header at the far post from Sol Sidibe’s cross in the second half.
Patterson was almost able to avoid the penalty shoot-out, but his attempt was well saved by Johansson towards the end of the game.
Bennett managed to score off a delivery from Patterson in extra time before the disappointing penalties.