Martin O’Neill may be prone to slipping into hyperbole as a television pundit, but it is not too often he races across the pitch in jubilation after a match. A third away win in a week, however, prompted the Aston Villa manager to connect with those supporters in the Smethwick End celebrating not only a derby victory but reaching fourth place in the Barclays Premier League and a ticket to the next stage of the Uefa Cup.

These are heady days for Villa as they threaten to lead the challenge to the elite of English football. They had the measure of West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns yesterday and a splurge of goals midway through the first half proved sufficient to win the clubs’ 125th top-flight encounter.

John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor, Villa’s front pairing, capitalised on some woeful defending by Leon Barnett to score the goals that left Tony Mowbray, the West Brom manager, bemoaning the pre-match loss of Abdoulaye Méïté, whose recurring calf injury meant a change of line-up ten minutes before kick-off.

O’Neill was elated that, after beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in London on Monday and Litex Lovech 3-1 in Bulgaria on Thursday, his players had the vitality and the quality to slice open West Brom with two goals in a little more than a minute. Stiliyan Petrov was outstanding in the heart of midfield, Curtis Davies, on his return to The Hawthorns, did not put a foot wrong at the back and Ashley Young, who had been rested for the Uefa Cup game, provided the deliveries for the goals.

“John and Gabby are forging a terrific partnership,” the Villa manager said. “I thought Gabby was terrific today and John is essential for us in many aspects because he gives us that wee bit of presence there, and he can play a bit himself. He’s getting some goals and with Gabby on the scoresheet again, I couldn’t be more pleased.”

West Brom, fresh from an enthrallingly open win over West Ham United the previous weekend, signalled their intentions as they attacked in numbers, content to leave two on two at the back at times as Gianni Zuiverloon pushed on in support of James Morrison down the right flank. But Villa were soon creating chances and when Barnett stepped up to try to leave Carew offside from a free kick by Ashley Young, the Norway striker headed powerfully in off a post.

When Barnett diverted Young’s long pass into Agbonlahor’s path, the Villa striker, without a goal for his club since his hat-trick against Manchester City a month ago, shot into the far corner of the net across Scott Carson, the West Brom goalkeeper, who was on loan at Villa last season.

The excitement got to Agbonlahor as he lavished praise on Carew after the match. “None of their defenders could get near him,” Agbonlahor said. “It showed today we can play off each other and the chances we had today, we put away. I think if we can continue like that we will win a lot of games. I wouldn’t swap him for anyone at the moment — except Pele.”

Davies compared Carew to a “steam train”, but Albion got back on track when Morrison snaffled up a rebound when reacting more sharply than Nicky Shorey after Brad Friedel spilt a long-range shot by Robert Koren. The Villa goalkeeper went some way to atoning for his error with a splendid one-handed save from a header by Kim Do Heon on the point of half-time.

The second half was tighter and, after Carew struck two efforts against posts in quick succession, first upon being played in by the improving Nigel Reo-Coker and then when heading on Petrov’s chip, Villa settled for keeping West Brom at bay.

Luke Moore, a third player making his first appearance against his former team, snatched at a good chance to equalise on the hour and never again were Villa under such pressure to hold on.

So West Brom are narrowly above the relegation zone, but Mowbray, who knows a thing or two about playing centre half, is convinced that his team will improve at the back. “It would be easy to say if Méïté hadn’t got injured, we wouldn’t have conceded like that,” he said. “But you have to have the quality on the pitch. Football can’t be that easy, can it? Stick the ball in and their centre forward heads it in? It’s about personnel. When we get the right personnel on the pitch, it won’t be a problem. It’s been an Achilles’ heel since I’ve been here and you try to improve that department.”

West Brom (4-5-1): S Carson 7 - GZuiverloon 6, L Barnett 4, J Olsson 6, P Robinson 5 - J Morrison 7, B Valero 5, J Greening 7, R Koren 7, C Brunt 5 - R Bednar 6. Substitutes: L Moore 5 (for Valero, 57min), Kim Do Heon 5 (for Brunt, 21), I Miller 6 (for Bednar, 57). Not used: D Kiely, C Hoefkens, M Cech, R Donk.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): B Friedel 6 - L Young 6, C Davies 6, M Laursen 7, N Shorey 5 - N Reo-Coker 7, S Petrov 8, G Barry 7, A Young 7 - G Agbonlahor 8, J Carew 7. Substitutes: J Milner (for Shorey, 75min), C Gardner (for Petrov, 83), C Cuéllar (for Carew, 89). Not used: M Harewood, Z Knight, M Salifou, B Guzan.