You might not have been alive the last time West Brom left Villa Park with three points: it was May 11th 1979. In fairness, we’ve only played in the same league 12 seasons since then, which reduces the chances of losing somewhat, but then we also didn’t have to endure Phil Dowd refereeing.

Actually, Dowd may have officiated one of those games for all I know, but I do know that he made us play with 10 men today in some highly dubious circumstances. I’ve yet to see a decent replay, but Chris Herd was shown a straight red for what the linesman perceived as a stamp on Jonas Olsson, but actually just looked like a tangle of legs.

I’ll stand to be corrected, but from what I’ve seen so far it looks like an atrocious decision and although Chris Brunt’s resultant effort from the spot was equally bad, missing the goal by yards, there’s no question that the ejection blew the wind out of our sails.

It started well enough, although Darren Bent’s blast over the bar from eight yards proved costly in the end, it was Bent who opened the scoring from the spot himself in the 23rd minute. The penalty won in arguably fortuitous circumstances after Gabby Agbonlahor nicked in get a toe on the ball just before Ben Foster, who then took the striker out.

Olsson made it 1-1 during first half injury time with a strong header from Brunt’s corner, Given had no chance of keeping it out of the top corner. Paul Scharner grabbed the second, again from a corner; leaping on a loose ball to half-volley in off the underside of the crossbar.

Some sides play better when reduced to 10, we’re not one of them. N’Zogbia was withdrawn on the hour mark, Emile Heskey his replacement. Marc Albrighton got the last 13 minutes in place of Barry Bannan. It made no difference, we never looked likely of getting back on terms.

One positive: Carlos Cuellar got on the pitch just before the break, replacing Alan Hutton who picked up a head injury. Otherwise, Bannan looked good when he had the ball in the final third, Herd was doing a solid, if slightly overly exuberant, job in the centre of the park.

That’s about it and the result will trump it all. The reaction will be very interesting.

Aston Villa: Given, Hutton (Cuellar 41′), Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Petrov, Herd (Sent off 35′), N’Zogbia (Heskey 61′), Bannan (Albrighton 78′), Agbonlahor, Bent. Unused subs: Guzan, Clark, Ireland, Delfouneso.

West Brom: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Jones, Brunt, Scharner, Mulumbu (Morrison 78′), Thomas, Long (Tchoyi 20′), Odemwingie. Unused Subs: Fulop, Dawson, Gera, Cox, Shorey.