“When I left home this morning my missus said to my she’d done the lottery, the Euro’s, €54million jackpot. I said I’d take three points all day.”

Those were the words of a jubilant Tim Sherwood after his Aston Villa sides 2-1 victory over local rivals West Bromwich Albion lifted them out of the Premier League relegation zone.

Gabby Agbonlahor ended a run of 14 league games without scoring when he put the home side a goal up on 22 minutes before Saido Berahino netted his 18th goal of the season to level the scores midway through the second-half.

But with only seconds remaining, West Brom keeper Ben Foster had a rush of blood to the head which resulted in a foul on Matthew Lowton and a penalty to Villa.

Christian Benteke converted the resulting spot kick, his first goal in the league since December, calmly side-footing the ball past Foster.

“Goalscorers are there to be shot down and it takes a brave man to stand up there. I asked him (Benteke) before the game if he gets a penalty what he was going to do,” said Sherwood.

“He said ‘I’ll wait until the goalie goes down and I’ll roll it in the corner.’ I was still peeping through my fingers.”

But having been written off by many experts in recent weeks, Sherwood believes his side are still alive in the battle to avoid relegation.

He said: “We need to bottle it up and experience it a few more times. There were people who wrote us off but we’re alive and kicking. People will look at that result but the performance was great.”

The defeat left the Baggies without a win in nine away games and travel back to Villa Park on Saturday in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.