With six senior players injured, several Hammers had to play unfamiliar roles in the game.
Their efforts were rewarded with Emerson's second-half equaliser after Jacob Ramsey gave Villa the lead.
Potter stated post-game: “We’re really pleased with the performance.
“We just got caught in a couple of actions early on and then we had to suffer a little bit, but from then on I thought we were really, really good.
“The reaction to their goal was great, we pushed and pushed second half, created some really good chances, played with personality, played with effort, so it was really good.”
He added: “The two boys up front gave everything and everyone stepped up.
“It starts from Lucas (Paquetá). Mo (Kudus) and Carlos (Soler) helped the midfield out, the lateral centre-backs help the midfield out, and the midfield help the team out, so it was a good team performance, it really was.
“I think that's something we've been trying to reinforce all the time. We have to be a team, we have to be hard to beat, we have to be compact and if we can attack fast, we attack fast, but if not then we have to feel that we can keep the ball and I thought we did both of those things.”