Paul Lambert’s desperate second-half gamble reaped reward at The Hawthorns as West Bromwich Albion striker Shane Long was denied a night of glory.

Villa manager Lambert was staring at a derby defeat after Republic of Ireland forward Long caught the visitors cold with a superb early double.

But as the hour approached, the Scot made a treble substitution and saw two goals in nine minutes cap a fightback that could have ended with Villa grabbing all three points.

Lambert had surprisingly chosen to start without either Gabby Agbonlahor or Andreas Weimann. But when Villa were up against it, both were called from the bench and their influence had a decisive impact as Karim El Ahmadi volleyed the visitors back into the game following an assist from Austrian livewire Weimann.

Then Ashley Westwood chose an opportune moment to open his account for Villa 16 months after arriving from Crewe Alexandra in a £2million move. The midfielder collected Goran Popov’s headed clearance from Agbonlahor’s cross and rifled a low drive through a couple of bodies and into the corner.

Villa’s boss explained his selection by claiming that the players who changed the course of the game had managed only three days’ training.

He said: ‘We spoke about making the changes at half-time, but decided to wait. We were actually planning to wait a bit longer but we needed a goal pretty quickly. The three of them only started training on Friday. And in the second half I thought we were fabulous.’

Until Lambert made his moves, it appeared Long was set to exact revenge on a club who have provided him with plenty of painful memories. Two years ago, he was on the end of a challenge by Alan Hutton that enraged Roy Hodgson, then in charge at The Hawthorns, and effectively ended the striker’s season.

Long may have covered plenty of yards since then but his spot in the starting XI has never again been as secure. It has been a difficult start to the campaign for the striker, 26, who appeared surplus as the summer’s transfer window was coming to a close.

Long set the evening in motion inside the opening three minutes. The atmosphere inside The Hawthorns was already spiky, but the noise level rose considerably when West Brom’s busy forward charged on to a 50-yard Chris Brunt pass that was arrowed straight at the heart of Villa’s defence.

Long still had plenty to do as he took the ball out of the chilly November air with a delicate touch. So good was his piece of skill that Villa defender Nathan Baker was taken out of the picture.

That left the forward facing Brad Guzan on the edge of the area. He steadied himself and fired a crisp left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

Eight minutes later, Long grabbed his second after Villa right-back Leandro Bacuna played a lazy ball back towards Baker without having seen Long lurking.

For the second time, he had a clear run on Villa’s centre half. And for the second time Baker was found wanting. Guzan came out and stood tall but Long clipped the ball over him and into the net off the underside of the bar.

The lead should have been extended still further. Stephane Sessegnon missed a sitter from four yards before Libor Kozak skimmed the bar with a 25-yarder at the other end.

Sessegnon was to enjoy another chance after the interval to make it three but blazed high into the Brummie Road End. It was to prove a turning point, as Steve Clarke acknowledged. The Albion boss said: ‘When you are leading 2-0 midway through the second half, you feel you should get the points. Villa made a few changes and came with energy — and that unsettled us a bit. We gave away a bad goal which gave them momentum, and they took advantage.’

—Daily Mail