|
That served to inspire the visitors as they sought to press home their numerical advantage.
The visitors halved the deficit after 53 minutes as Rob Kozluk took a pass from Michael Tonge and drove the ball beyond Ed de Goey to give Neil Warnock's side hope.
De Goey suddenly found himself the busiest man on the pitch, clearing from Stuart McCall and then having to watch a shot from Tonge clear his crossbar.
He then saved well from Peter Ndlovu on the hour and saw a header from Phil Jagielka hit the woodwork.
But it looked as though Stoke would hang on until Lester was floored in the area. He got up to take the spot-kick himself, beating de Goey to earn his side a point.
It seemed an unlikely point at the break though as Stoke dominated the opening 45 minutes and powered into a two-goal lead.
Tony Pulis' side served swift notice of their intentions as they had the first effort on goal after just two minutes, visiting keeper Paul Gerrard parrying Ade Akinbiyi's left-footed drive.
Gifton Noel-Williams hammered the ball past Gerrard a couple of minutes later to give the struggling Potters the early breakthrough.
The visitors barely managed to get out of their own half in the opening five minutes and it took some tenacious defending from the Blades to keep Stoke at bay.
Stoke had the initiative and they deservedly doubled their advantage after 18 minutes with a well-worked goal.
A fine cross from the impressive Commons found Akinbiyi, who headed home from close range to claim his first goal of the season and put the home side firmly in command at the interval.
In the second half the battling Blades showed their steel, gaining a point thanks to Lester's late heroics.