Villa 0 West Brom 1 - Report and pictures
Saido Berahino earned instant forgiveness from the Albion fans as his first-half goal saw the Baggies clinch a narrow derby day win at Aston Villa.
The away fans were chanting Berahino's name after the forward, who vowed never to play under chairman Jeremy Peace again, got the winner.
He started for the first time since his transfer deadline day 'tweet war' and scored the only goal five minutes before the break.
Tony Pulis' side missed a glorious opportunity to open the scoring inside the first 90 seconds, Chris Brunt made yards down the left-side.
He whipped in a peach of a cross for Salomon Rondon, who could only guide his header at goalkeeper Brad Guzan from the six yard line. The Venezuelan forward should have done better.
The visitors grew on their fast start and forced a number of set-pieces in front of the packed Holte End.
Jonny Evans helped a corner narrowly over the top, before Brunt wildly sliced at an appealing opening on the edge of the Villa area.
Berahino was unable to connect properly from McClean's cross after the ball had dropped over Rondon, his tame effort falling kindly for Guzan.
The hosts had their first real look at goal midway through the first period.
Jack Grealish set up Ashley Westwood 25 yards from the goal, the midfielder's first-time strike whistled over goalkeeper Boaz Myhill's top-right angle.
Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Amavi, Richards (c), Lescott, Westwood, Sanchez (Veretout 81), Gil (Bacuna 76), Grealish, Agbonlahor, Sinclair (Gestede 45')
Substitutes not used: Bunn (GK), Clark, Cole, Ayew
Albion: Myhill, Dawson, Brunt, McAuley, Evans, Yacob, Morrison, McClean (Olsson 90), Fletcher (c), Berahino (Gardner 65), Rondon (Lambert 90).
Substitutes not used: Lindegaard (GK), Chester, McManaman, Gnabry.
Attendance: 36,321
Villa's moment of the half came a couple of minutes later, as Gabby Agbonlahor chased down a high ball and forced Craig Dawson to backtrack.
The Villa hitman turned Dawson and cut the ball back for on onrushing Carles Gil, whose strike was goal-bound but for the fine intervention of Claudio Yacob, who blocked magnificently.
Albion skipper Darren Fletcher looked to take things by the scruff of the neck and charged forward, before unleashing a 25 yard drive with his weaker left foot that Guzan sprawled across to keep out.
But the Baggies were not to be denied and were rewarded for their first-half efforts six minutes before the break. Dawson made a fine challenge to regain possession and fed McClean on the right-side of the Villa box.
The Irish wide man reached the byline before lofting a high ball to the back post, Rondon collected and with his back to goal, teed up James Morrison, whose low strike was flicked in by Berahino.
The 22-year-old reacted well to Morrison's effort and did well to adjust his footing and get the decisive touch to wrong-foot Guzan.
The second period took a while to get the decibels raised but Jordan Amavi soon got the Holte End on their feet. The full-back beat McClean all ends up and reached the byline but his cutback missed everyone.
Carlos Sanchez could only curl at Myhill in the aftermath. A presentable free-kick opportunity was wasted by Gil as he could only curl into the midrift of Myhill from 25 yards.
Questionable goalkeeping at the other end from Guzan almost let Rondon's fierce strike slip through his grasp ,after he cleverly turned his defender.
Referee Martin Atkinson was at the centre of controversy as the half wore on, first denying Villa a spot-kick after Alan Hutton's cross was blocked by the arm of Berahino.
The officials deeming the goalscorer to be outside of the Villa area. Moments later, Micah Richards headed beyond Myhill but the play was called back for an earlier foul, much to the distaste of the Holte End.
Westwood curled a free-kick over the top before sub Leandro Bacuna put his tame effort into the Albion wall, but struggled to create something from open play to unlock the visitors' defence.
Substitute Rudy Gestede headed a decent Bacuna cross well over and, with that, all hopes of an equaliser faded away.
