Martin O’Neill could not hide his satisfaction after a third successive victory on Villa’s travels at Albion.
His side have a foot in the second round of the UEFA Cup and an early place among the Premiership front runners.
That will do nicely for O’Neill - especially as the derby occasion made this game even more hazardous in the manager’s eyes.
The Villa boss felt that his team had fully deserved their 2-1 success.
He said: “This is very, very pleasing. This was a difficult match for us because they started very well, as I felt they might, but obviously the two goals that we scored in quick succession was a big setback for them and a big boost for us.
“We made a couple of good chances in the second half, which didn’t quite go in, but I felt we deserved to win the game. The momentum is terrific – three wins in six days. I cannot ask for more than that.
“There was obviously a bit of tiredness towards the end but I felt we dealt with everything reasonably well.
“I was here for the West Ham match and I honestly thought it was a fantastic game. I think Albion are a very attacking team, a very fine footballing side.
“Tony tells me that they did not play as well against West Ham as they did against Everton in which case that must have been some performance.
“Sure they are getting used to things at this level but they are a fine team already, of that I am certain.
“This was a tough match for us as a derby game and I am delighted with the result.”
He once again spoke excitedly about the goal threat of his front players, believing Gabby Agbonlahor’s experience as a lone striker in Europe last week had added a further dimension to his game.
O’Neill added: “John Carew and Gabby are forging a terrific partnership. I felt Gabby was excellent and big John was essential for us. He gives us that little bit of presence that we need and he can play a bit too.
“We’re a definite threat. We play some lovely, attractive attacking football at times. It took us a bit of time to come into the game but when we did, we came into into it with a vengeance.”
He shrugged off questions that his last big money signing of the transfer window, James Milner, would be getting frustrated at the lack of opportunity to get into O’Neill’s in-form side.
He said: “I haven’t bought James Milner here for a month. He’s not on loan you know. We’ve only got thousands of games ahead of us after all. There are no problems in that. James Milner will play for us, don’t you worry.”
O’Neill admitted he was relieved the two efforts Carew put on to the woodwork, at the start of the second half, did not come back to haunt him.
He said: “We did the damage early on with two great goals. We deserved to win, because other than the goals we had several other good chances.
“When the game opened up in the second half I thought we looked a real handful. Carew hit the post twice. If one of those had gone in, it would have given us a two-goal cushion. But it wasn’t to be.”
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