You never lose faith, declares proud Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert

The claret and blues recovered from falling 2-0 down after just nine minutes to clinch a thrilling 4-3 win last night.

Christian Benteke's second-half penalty won it for the hosts after Andi Weimann, Leandro Bacuna and Fabian Delph netted in a crazy first half.

Chris Brunt and Delph's own goal had Albion 2-0 up early on and Youssouf Mulumbu hauled it back to 3-3.

But Benteke's spot-kick – after Diego Lugano had pulled him down – gave Villa their first victory over the Baggies since 2010.

Boss Lambert said: "You never lose faith in them, there was only nine minutes gone when we were 2-0 down and it was important we kept a level head.

"We showed a lot of maturity; we grew up an awful lot there, especially against your rivals. That's the magnitude of it.

"The win doubles because of the importance to the crowd. The turnaround was fantastic – what a performance that was.

"To be fair, the first goal from West Brom was a fabulous strike. The second goal was disappointing because we switched off and Fab does his best to stop the cross and we're 2-0 down."

Benteke now has three goals in his last three games after ending a drought which stretched for over 10 hours.

Albion disputed his match-winning penalty but Lambert insisted Lugano was always in danger of conceding a spot-kick.

He said: "I think if you tug someone in the box you are giving someone a chance of giving the pen.

"The referee (Mark Clattenburg) had a good view and if you take the risk then you run the risk of giving away a penalty."

Benteke and Weimann ensured Villa did not miss the injured Gabby Agbonlahor, who is sidelined with a foot injury he suffered in the 2-2 draw at Liverpool this month.

And Weimann, who now has four goals this season, believes the squad's spirit guided them back from the brink.

"It was the same start as at The Hawthorns (a 2-2 draw in November), we were 2-0 down quickly but we showed a lot of character to come back and win the game," said the 22-year-old.

"After six minutes we're 2-0 down and it's not easy but we kept calm and played our football and luckily we got the goal straight away and that got us back into it."