Sherwood's common sense leads Villa to victory over West Brom

Our newest series, From the Stands, continues with James Price giving us his take on Villa's thrilling 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night. James was sitting in section P4, so you're getting the view from the Doug Ellis stand today. You can follow James on twitter @jpcomplete_fit.

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The first of two derbies in five days at Villa Park ended Aston Villa: 2, West Brom: 1. I for one was taken back to the days of when I was a kid with adrenalin pumping through my body through the pure excitment of the whole game. First a big shout out for the fans as we all pulled in the same direction for once and were non-stop cheering on the lads. The atmosphere was the best I have heard for some time; along the same kind of atmosphere as when we played Inter Milan years back or Tranmere Rovers in the Coca Cola Cup semifinal, it was huge!!!

As for the game itself I think Tim Sherwood has got some common sense, something not all Villa managers in the past have had to much of if you ask me. By this I mean by playing players in their correct positions. The 4-4-2 diamond we played on Tuesday was very effective and for me Gabby has to play down the middle where he can use his power and pace which he used very well in the first half and scared the Albion defence all night. The goal came from Guzan always looking for Benteke, who's got a good flick on and Gabby's pace and power did the rest. With a Gabby shot cleared off the line twice and Delph hitting the post we were the deserving team ahead, but if it was 3 or 4 in the first half it would have been deserved, we were that dominant.

As the second half came along I saw the Lambert style creep in: 4000 passes around the half way that go nowhere. From there the only Albion shot on target came and of course their goal. The game seemed to be petering out until the 92nd minute when Delph had a shot from 25 yards to make Foster spill the rebound, but was eventually saved well from the keeper. But only one minute later Foster brought down Matt Lowton for a obvious pen. Step up Mr. Benteke (who was awful the whole of the second half) as he ran in gave Foster the one step and placed it in the bottom right corner, three points never in doubt and the climb up the table begins.

In all, a much better performance. I thought Gabby and Clark were awesome. Super Jack came on for 30 mins and looked good with some nice touches and almost scored. All in all a good night which I think gives us the edge for Saturday in the FA Cup but when we meet again. I would expect a much better Albion side but not one that's going to beat THE MIGHTY VILLA of course

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Thanks for the report, James! Really wish I could have heard that crowd roaring after the penalty. James will be back on Monday with his wrap of this weekend's FA Cup match.