Tim Sherwood looked to the heavens, clenched his fists and started to dance around on the pitch. It was the last of three minutes of injury time and Christian Benteke, the coolest man in the stadium, had just nonchalantly rolled in what could prove to be the most important penalty kick of his career.
Having looked like they had allowed two points to slip through their fingers, Aston Villa secured their first league win in 14 attempts in dramatic fashion. Ahead through an early goal from the outstanding Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was unrecognisable from the player who has toiled for so much of this season, Villa looked like they would be left to rue their failure to turn their first-half superiority into more goals when Saido Berahino pilfered his 18th of the season midway through the second half to haul West Bromwich Albion level.
Villa, however, showed tremendous character to pick themselves up and snatch victory with virtually the last kick of the game. Ben Foster was at fault, the Albion goalkeeper guilty of chasing a ball that he had no chance of getting. Matthew Lowton went down under Foster's challenge and Benteke, with supreme confidence, did the rest. It was only his third league goal of the season and his first since 20 December. But what a way to end a drought. Out of the relegation zone, Villa have the shot in the arm that their season so badly needed and will now relish Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final against their neighbours.
“Fight like lions” was the message over the Tannoy to the Villa players before kick-off and they followed that mantra to the letter during an opening 45 minutes in which Agbonlahor played like a man possessed. By half-time the former England striker had given Villa the lead, seen two efforts cleared off the line and time and again tormented Joleon Lescott with his aggressive running.
The opening goal was reminiscent of Agbonlahor in his prime. Brad Guzan’s punt upfield was no more than hopeful but Christian Benteke climbed above Chris Brunt to flick the ball on. Gambling on his strike partner winning the header and playing on Lescott’s shoulder, Agbonlahor sprinted in behind the Albion central defender and drilled a low shot from 12 yards under Ben Foster. Cue Sherwood’s antics on the touchline.
The Villa manager had sprung a surprise with his team selection, in particular the inclusion of Charles N’Zogbia at the tip of a midfield diamond, but things could hardly have gone better for the home team in the first half. The only disappointment would have been the absence of a second goal which Fabian Delph very nearly provided in first-half injury time, the midfielder’s curling right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area striking the foot of the far upright.
There had also been a reprieve for Albion earlier in the evening when Benteke nodded down Ashley Westwood’s cross and Agbonlahor, shrugging off Lescott, took a touch before swivelling to hit a low left-footed shot that Foster seemed to have covered. The ball, however, inexplicably slipped through Foster’s fingers and between his legs. In a state of panic Foster turned round and stretched out his right arm to drag the ball back, with goalline technology showing that the whole of the ball had not crossed the line.
Snapping into tackles and not allowing Albion any time on the ball, Villa were dominant and it took a last-ditch Lescott clearance to prevent Agbonlahor from adding a second in the 28th minute. Once again it was route-one football that exposed Albion’s defence. Westwood’s lofted ball invited Agbonlahor to run beyond Lescott and the striker accepted the invitation. Sprinting into the inside-left channel, Agbonlahor toe-poked the ball past Foster only for Lescott to get back and clear.
It was strange to see Albion look so disorientated in that first half but the momentum shifted after the interval. Craig Dawson headed Brunt’s free-kick just over the bar after Jores Okore had needlessly fouled Brown Ideye but Villa were not so fortunate nine minutes later. Another Brunt set-piece, this time a corner kick, picked out Lescott at the far post and for once the former England defender got the better of Agbonlahor, heading back across goal for the unmarked Berahino to nod home from three yards out.
The danger for a Villa side desperate for a winning goal was that they would leave themselves open to the counter-attack and that almost turned out to be the case when Okore had to stretch every sinew to intercept James Morrison’s low cross. In the end, though, it was all about Benteke.
Gus steals the headlines
Gus Poyet was forced to witness Sunderland's fightback from the stand after he was dismissed from the dugout by the referee Mike Dean in a controversial encounter against Hull City at the KC Stadium.
Dame N’Doye’s third goal in as many Premier League starts appeared to have sealed another Hull home win only for Poyet’s Sunderland, a place below their hosts at kick-off, to level late on through Jack Rodwell’s scruffy back-post bundle.
Last season, Sunderland had two players dismissed in a single-goal defeat but this year’s incendiary moment took place on the touchline in the aftermath of Rodwell being booked for diving, after latching on to Jermain Defoe’s 36th-minute flick on.
Poyet booted his team’s bucket of water bottles over in frustration, leading to the referee ordering him to the stands. However, he opted not to take the direct route, walking instead across the technical areas and offering his opposite number, Bruce, a handshake. Bruce refused and words were exchanged, some of them clearly incensing the Hull manager, who had to be held back by his staff as Poyet departed clapping his hands in sarcastic manner.
The fractious end to an opening half – lit up in a footballing sense by a Gareth Bale-esque gallop down the left by the Scotland international Andrew Robertson that floored the hapless covering defender Santiago Vergini – included Paul McShane entering the book for a late tackle on Defoe.
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