Aston Villa have breathed life into their flailing season by producing a last-gasp win over local rivals West Bromwich Albion in Tuesday night Barclays Premier League action.
Tim Sherwood recorded his first win as Villa manager thanks to a 2-1 result in the West Midlands derby at Villa Park which came courtesy of an injury-time Christian Benteke penalty.
Gabby Agbonlahor opened the scoring for Villa in the 22nd minute when he raced onto a glancing header from Benteke after Brad Guzan's long clearance before beating Ben Foster through his legs.
With just under 25 minutes remaining, Saido Berahino responded for Albino by tallying his 12th league goal of the campaign when he nodded home Joleon Lescott's knock-back header from close range but there was late drama in the derby.
Baggies keeper Foster had brought down Matt Lowton in the dying stages which allowed Benteke to step up to the spot and coolly roll the ball into the back of the net notching his first goal since December 20 and giving his side a much-needed allowing Villa to move temporarily out of the bottom three.
Southampton returned to the winners' list with a narrow 1-0 home victory over Crystal Palace thanks to Sadio Mane's 83rd-minute goal.
The Senegalese winger came up with his sixth league goal since joining from Red Bull Salzburg in the summer when slotting home from close range after Palace keeper Julian Speroni could only partially keep out James Ward-Prowse's well-struck effort.
The win was the first for Ronald Koeman's Saints in five matches which returned them to fifth on the table as Alan Pardew's Eagles remained 12th.
And in a fiery clash at the KC Stadium, Hull City and Sunderland shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw which saw the clubs stay 15th and 16th respectively.
Dame N'Doye netted his third goal in four league starts since joining from Lokomotiv Moscow in January when he cleverly finished Tom Huddlestone's low free-kick with a flicked backheel in the 15th minute before Jack Rodwell equalised with a 77th-minute back post header from Patrick van Aanholt's floating cross from the left.
There are seven matches to be played on Wednesday night with top four sides Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United all in action.
Wednesday night's fixtures are as follows:
QPR v Arsenal - Loftus Road, London West Ham United v Chelsea - Upton Park, London Manchester City v Leicester City - Etihad Stadium, Manchester Newcastle United v Manchester United - St James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Stoke City v Everton - Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent Tottenham v Swansea City - White Hart Lane, London Liverpool v Burnley - Anfield, Liverpool
2014/15 Barclays Premier League - season scores
Aston Villa: 2 (Gabby Agbonlahor 22', Christian Benteke (p) 90+4') West Bromwich Albion: 1 (Saido Berahino 66') Villa Park, Birmingham - 31,272
Southampton: 1 (Sadio Mane 83') Crystal Palace: 0 St Mary's Stadium, Southampton - 28,351
Hull City: 1 (Dame N'Doye 15') Sunderland: 1 (Jack Rodwell 77') KC Stadium, Kingston-upon-Hill - 23,017
