Tim Sherwood recorded his first win as Aston Villa manager as Christian Benteke’s penalty in the Injury-time helped beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 in the West Midlands derby.
Saido Berahino had got the ball into the net18th time this season to cancel out Gabriel Agbonlahor's 22nd-minute opener and put the visitors under pressure.
But Villa claimed their first Premier League victory since 7 December.
Sherwood had said in the build-up to the game that Villa would need to win six of their remaining 11 league fixtures to have any chance of avoiding relegation.
Agbonlahor thought he had given Villa a 14th-minute lead, but after producing a clever turn in the area and getting a shot away which Ben Foster somehow allowed to squirm under his body, the goalkeeper just managed to react in time to recover the situation before the
whole of the ball had crossed the goal-line.
whole of the ball had crossed the goal-line.
That near miss was soon forgotten when eight minutes later Agbonlahor did open the scoring after some route-one football, not that the Villa faithful cared about how the goal came about.
That strike gave the Villa players a huge lift in confidence and they were unlucky not to double their advantage.
Then, in first-half injury time, Fabian Delph twisted and turned on the left-hand edge of the West Brom box, only to see his curling effort beat Foster’s outstretched hand, but not the post.
West Brom found themselves on level terms with their first effort on target after 66 minutes.
A tense Villa Park almost heated up when Berahino and Alan Hutton squared up, the latter catching the frontman with a high boot that might well have earned him a red rather than yellow card.
A tense Villa Park almost heated up when Berahino and Alan Hutton squared up, the latter catching the frontman with a high boot that might well have earned him a red rather than yellow card.
Villa, though, were not to be denied as Sherwood urged his players forward in search of a winner, which came their way when Foster initially fumbled the ball and then, when trying to make up for his mistake, brought down Matthew Lowton.
Benteke, who had not scored since netting against Manchester United on 20 December, took the spot-kick responsibilities with aplomb to easily beat Foster and move Villa out of relegation table.
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