Premier League: Aston Villa 2 West Brom 1

Aston Villa halted a run of four defeats by beating Midlands rivals West Brom 2-1, despite a late rally from the visitors.

Marc Albrighton continued his run of fine form by setting up both goals with superb crosses.

The first was for Stewart Downing, followed by another for Emile Heskey – and neither made any mistake, shooting Villa into a two-goal lead.

But Paul Scharner’s goal just a minute from full time set nerves jangling around Villa Park, though Gerard Houllier’s side held on for all three points.

West Brom have proved one of the surprise packages of the season and started the day in 10th place, two points above Villa.

The game began with the visitors in charge with Chris Brunt goingt close before Somen Tchoyi hit the woodwork with a curling strike.

However, after somehow weathering the storm, Villa took the lead against the run of play after 25 minutes.

Albrighton, one of the bright sparks in a disappointing season for the club, was the architect, swinging a cross to the back post where Downing tapped home.

The goal did little to stop West Brom’s dominance, but their chances began to dry up.Villa almost doubled their advantage after 55 minutes when another of Downing’s testing crosses was nodded wide by Albrighton.

Scott Carson then had to be alert to thwart Heskey after a slack back-pass from Graeme Dorrans.Heskey went even closer six minutes later after another error in the West Brom backline.

This time, Paul Scharner’s sloppy header allowed Ashley Young to fizz in a low cross-shot which only just evaded the big striker.

But Heskey did get his reward for an industrious performance 10 minutes from time. It was Albrighton again who provided another superb delivery which Heskey headed into the bottom corner.

It looked like game over but Scharner brought West Brom back into things when he headed Brunt’s corner past Brad Friedel.

Jerome Thomas should have snatched a point for the Baggies in stoppage time when he was put clean through, but his attempted chip cleared both Friedel and the bar.