PA PhotosCharles N'Zogbia doubles Villa's lead with a free-kick

Win ugly, Paul Lambert had urged his team in recent days. And while there was nothing overtly pretty to admire about Aston Villa's 2-1 win over West Ham on a rain-sodden afternoon in Birmingham, the manager witnessed plenty of encouraging qualities from his young players. Lambert had described his team's final 13 games as 13 cup finals. That's one cup final won, 12 to go. No medals on offer, but one hell of a reward at the end of it all.

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This match was ultimately decided by the maverick talent of Charles N'Zogbia in the second half, but Villa did the hard work, the ugly work, in the opening 45 minutes when they more or less bossed West Ham in a physical sense. That was something of a surprise, for the opposite had been expected; the Hammers are a canny, experienced bunch, ideally suited, it seemed, to exploit the waning self-confidence of Villa's youngsters.

Instead, Villa went about their first half business with gusto, managing to keep collective heads up despite Andreas Weimann's extraordinary miss after a minute and a half. When Christian Benteke's low shot was parried by Jaaskelainen, it fell perfectly for Weimann, but the Austrian sidefooted his finish wide. After his wasteful miss at Goodison Park last weekend, it made for an unwelcome double for a striker who is usually clinical.

Undeterred, Villa got on with it. There wasn't much to admire from a creative point of view, but in terms of effort and endeavour, there was. Nathan Baker, in at left-back in preference to Joe Bennett presumably because of his physical prowess, clashed heads with Andy Carroll on ten minutes. The blood flowed freely from his wound for the remainder of the half, but on 20 minutes he made a marauding raid down the left, one West Ham player bouncing off him before the run ended with he and Joey O'Brien sliding into a challenge by the goal-line. The West Ham right-back was hurt, coming off quickly afterwards.

If Baker stood up strong in that first half, Fabian Delph drove Villa on. Of any Villa player on the field, it was Delph who took responsibility for setting the tempo, getting on the ball, dictating play, and pushing forward whenever he could. One or two surging runs into the West Ham half won free kicks, another, out on the left touchline, forced James Tomkins into a sprawling tackle. Like O'Brien, Tomkins came out of it feeling the challenge; Villa's players weren't backing down.

West Ham had been so ineffective as an attacking force that it was inevitable the visitors would come out in the second half determined to change that. So they did. The opening 15-20 minutes saw the Hammers pressing, and Villa's nervous defenders tested. Jordan Bowery headed a cross practically out of Brad Guzan's hands and over the bar, Ciaran Clark awkwardly shanked another out for a corner before making a timely interception to cut out a dangerous low centre. The share of possession ten minutes in was 64% in West Ham's favour. Villa were wobbling.

Lambert was decisive with his substitutions. Rather than looking to stiffen his midfield, he pushed Villa on to the front foot by swapping Weimann and Bowery for Darren Bent and debutant Simon Dawkins. Bent's first contribution was in the penalty area, but at the wrong end as he cleared Carroll's shot off the line. The game then swung Villa's way.

The changes had tweaked Villa's formation. Bent joined Benteke to make two central strikers, Dawkins moved to left midfield, and that meant N'Zogbia surrendered his 'free' attacking role to occupy the right. N'Zogbia almost put Villa ahead when he cut inside from his position and flashed a shot wide, and minutes later he was on the ball again. Running from the right into the West Ham area, he stepped inside Mark Noble, who cut across him and pulled the winger down.

Benteke, and not for the first time this season, casually rolled his penalty in.

N'Zogbia's influence grew. Five minutes later, in possession, his pass into Benteke coaxed a foul from Tomkins 25 yards from goal; N'Zogbia presided over the set-piece himself and splendidly curled the ball over the wall for a fine second. He was withdrawn several minutes later with what appeared to be a knee injury - Lambert will hope it's nothing more than a minor knock as N'Zogbia's influence was significant in the final stages of the game.

Villa's nasty habit of fluffing two goal leads remained uppermost in minds, and the nerves around the stadium weren't helped when Joe Cole's pacy delivery flicked off the top of Ashley Westwood's head for a late own goal. The final few minutes were panicky and fretful, and Kevin Nolan nearly broke Villa hearts with a near-post effort blocked by Guzan with seconds to go. But Villa saw it out, and the relief around Villa Park was palpable at the final whistle: a first league win since the middle of December, pushing the club out of the bottom three.

A long way to go still, it's true, but the Premier League table looks kinder tonight.

If that's winning ugly, ugly is good, Villa fans may well reflect.

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