Aston Villa reclaimed fourth place in the Barclays Premier League last night by maintaining their habit of scoring crucial late goals when Ashley Young, their England winger, dispatched the cross two minutes from time that Kamil Zayatte put through his own goal. But the game finished on a controversial note when Steve Bennett, the referee, awarded Hull City a penalty for handball against Young before changing his mind.

Young raised a gloved hand as Luke Young, his team-mate, inadvertently headed towards his own goal, and although Hull appealed vociferously for a spot kick and the chance to equalise, television replays showed that the ball had hit only the crossbar. Gareth Barry, the Villa captain, asked Bennett to consult his assistant and Andy Halliday confirmed that a penalty should not be awarded.

It enabled Villa, so impressive in rallying from two goals down to draw with Arsenal on Boxing Day after Zat Knight scored in stoppage time, to secure their fifth win from their past six away games, despite playing below par. They have also won away to Everton and West Ham United with late goals.

Hull could count themselves unlucky because, in displaying the kind of resilience that Phil Brown dreamt of when he castigated his players so publicly on Friday, they had deserved a point. “It was a greatly improved performance,” the Hull manager said. “We’ve played sufficiently well for 93 minutes but then committed the cardinal sin of letting in a late goal.

“People will talk about the penalty decision that wasn’t and it is beyond me. The referee has given a penalty and then said it’s not a penalty. Some days you get bad days at the office because of your players; some days you get bad days at the office because of the referee. It’s been a good day at the office from my players. The referee has allowed himself to be overruled by a guy who is 45 yards away from the incident.”

Hull had conceded nine goals in two heavy defeats over Christmas and Brown kept his players on the pitch when they trailed Manchester City 4-0 at half-time on Friday to read them the Riot Act. But his team could have been ahead inside five minutes last night.

Nick Barmby jumped with Brad Friedel for a high ball in a challenge that would not have raised an eyebrow, let alone a whistle, in the centre circle. As the veteran goalkeeper failed to catch cleanly, however, Barmby fell with Nigel Reo-Coker and the ball dribbled over the line. Bennett blew for an infringement, however.

If Hull could have been one goal up by half-time, they should also have been one man down. Zayatte took out Ashley Young in the twentieth minute and was cautioned for felling Gabriel Agbonlahor six minutes later. When Villa’s top scorer then went to sprint away down the right wing, Zayatte tripped him shamelessly. Bennett pulled the defender over for a chat but sent him away with no more than a talking-to.

The second half dwindled in terms of entertainment, the last Premier League game of 2008 threatening to end in complete anticlimax until Young took Reo-Coker’s pass down the line, shimmied away from his man and sent over a devilish centre that Zayette could only divert past Boaz Myhill. Villa may have been grateful he had not been sent off after all.

O’Neill paid credit to a referee who had, after all, eventually made the right decision. Villa’s players surrounded Bennett to persuade him to speak to his assistant. “The referee’s been exceptionally courageous to change his mind,” O’Neill said. “He’s given the penalty but then changed his mind and he’s been very brave because he’s relying on his linesman to get it right. As it turns out, it was the right decision.”

“I’ve no idea why he [Young] raised his hand. He’s an intelligent boy and he’s telling me he knew it was going over. He would not have been coming home on the bus tonight if it hadn’t.”

Barry said: “It’s not something you see very often but the ref deserves a lot of credit. The ball didn’t hit Ashley’s hand, it clearly struck the crossbar. This result shows how far we’ve come this season. Hull made it really difficult for us after a few heavy defeats, so it’s a magnificent three points.”

Hull City (4-5-1): B Myhill — P McShane, M Turner, K Zayatte, S Ricketts — B Mendy, R Garcia (sub: C Fagan, 89min), I Ashbee, N Barmby (sub: B Hughes, 85), P Halmosi — D Cousin (sub: M King, 69). Substitutes not used: N Doyle, Geovanni, M Duke, Stelios. Booked: Zayatte.

Aston Villa (4-1-4-1): B Friedel — N Reo-Coker, C Davies, Z Knight, L Young — S Petrov — J Milner, S Sidwell (sub: C Gardner, 86), G Barry, A Young — G Agbonlahor. Substitutes not used: B Guzan, M Harewood, N Delfouneso, M Salifou, N Shorey, I Osbourne. Booked: Barry, Petrov.

Referee: S Bennett.