You live and die by your decisions and Zat Knight's decision to turn his back on Glen Whelan's shot, rather than throw himself in front of it, may prove to be decisive for Villa come the end of the season.
The Midlands derby at Villa Park seemed destined to end in a victory for the Villans, sending them eight points clear of Arsenal and nine clear of Everton.
The home side deservedly found themselves 2-0 ahead with just two minutes to play, only for their early season good fortune to well and truly run out.
A Ryan Shawcross header, then a Glen Whelan piledriver in stoppage time saw the match finish all square..
Stoke City invited pressure by sitting very deep from the off and Villa looked by far the better side early on, though it took them until the stroke of half time before they could convert their dominance into goals.
The electric James Milner found a pocket of space in the middle of the park and played a perfectly weighted pass to Stiliyan Petrov, who smashed the home side into a half-time lead.
In truth, had Villa shown more invention earlier in the half, then they could well have been further ahead. Their best chance fell to Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was unable to force a shot past former Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen after some excellent work by the ever reliable Luke Young.
Playing towards the Holte End in the second period, Villa could have been forgiven for thinking they would run up a cricket score against a Stoke side devoid of any ambition or ability. But, to their credit, the Potters didn't see it
the same way and showed a lot more fight after the interval.
Tony Pulis sensed that his side lacked a cutting edge with only James Beattie up front and, in the 54th minute, the manager called for Ricardo Fuller to provide a bit of trickery and pace.
Fuller seemed destined to score on 61, having outpaced Curtis Davies, but Luke Young, who is so committed in everything he does, made a 50 yard dash to throw a leg across the advancing attacker and keep his side in the lead.
Disbelief
The Villa faithful began to sing the name of John Carew as their side's advantage looked increasingly precarious and when, on 75 minutes, the steady if uninspiring Emile Heskey went down with an Achilles problem, the big Norwegian was introduced
Three minutes later, Petrov played a probing pass into the big Norwegian's path and what followed was a glimpse of such inspiration and magic that the only person to realise what Carew had done was the man himself.
A first time, side-foot volley, facing away from the goal looped over Steve Simonsen (a half time replacement for the injured Sorensen) and in to the net to provide a memorable Villa Park moment. It really was one of the goals of this or any season.
Carew looked as fired up and played in Agbonlahor to put the game beyond any doubt moments later but the off-form striker somehow contrived to trap the ball under his foot from from two yards out. Simonsen smothered gratefully and the game was not yet over.
Second half substitute Whelan then struck a post with Friedel well beaten to keep Villa fans on the edge of their seats and the Claret and Blue didn't heed the warning as Beattie centred for Shawcross to score with a soaring header on 88.
There were two minutes of stoppage time for Villa to see out, but, as Petrov pinched the ball off Mamady Sidibe it fell kindly for the oncoming Whelan. The Irish midfielder, who was not closed down at all, crashed shot into the net to send the Stoke fans delirium and the Villa faithful into disbelief.
While it remains true that the Claret and Blue are still six points clear of Arsenal, this was a massive opportunity to get some momentum going again and put more daylight between themselves and their nearest challengers.
Football, however, can be a very cruel game.
And when Villa take to the field against Manchester City on Wednesday night, the gap between fourth and fifth could be as slim as three points as the Gunners will have played the night before against West Brom at the Hawthorns.
Champions League qualification is in Villa's hands but their handling is about as steady as that of Thomas Sorensen right now.