Tony Bennett may have famously left his heart in San Francisco, but namesake Steve jettisoned any reserves of common sense during his journey to Tyneside for this game. 

Before becoming a referee Bennett had been an accomplished bowler in the Kent Leagues - and many of his decisions in this game could justifiably be described as full toss.

A preposterous early attempt at winning a penalty by Damien Duff was rightly ignored by the official - but the Toon man could count himself lucky not to be booked in the light of what was to follow.

Beye's yellow card for throwing the ball away was deserved, but the decisions that saw strike duo Martins and Ameobi cautioned were purely the result of refereeing inadequacy. 

And when the referee was called to account for his actions post-match, it was solely to review the goings-on between Agbonlahor and Barton that caused such a furore in the media afterwards - the Newcastle man responding to a challenge by placing his hand on his opponent's face and delivering some verbals before being spoken to by the referee.

Thankfully for him - and us - Bennett missed the crucial incident in the flesh and concluded that there was nothing untoward in the TV rerun that would have caused him to red-card Barton. 

Whether he actually heard anything untoward is unrecorded, but had he done so, presumably he'd have joined Martins in the book for foul and abusive language and then walked after the break for a second yellow after fouling Luke Young.

That in turn would have seen the six-game suspended ban kick in and rob Newcastle of a player who has been instrumental in our recent revival. Given his own propensity for sniffing out controversy though and our squad shortcomings, the odds are that at some point soon he'll be banned again. 

Martin O'Neill was also visibly unimpressed with the referee but managed to keep his thoughts to himself as the teams left the field, perhaps mindful of last season when his protestations about Bennett's handling of a game against Fulham saw him banished from the touchline.

The Birmingham Mail correspondent believed that Bennett had been "swayed by the raucous crowd" but in truth the SJP support was more of the "wait and see" variety than providing a wall of noise from the first whistle.

If the Man City game and the Beye penalty incident had galvanised home fans into action and the West Brom win found us in the comfort zone, then this one was midway between the two. Some deserved applause greeted the side at the interval, but by the time the crowd responded to the efforts and the goal on the hour, the damage was done for the visitors and Villa had surrendered. 

When the dust settles though, this remains a pivotal victory and as genuine achievement, after a weekend when their basement rivals had posted wins to leave us bottom of the table for the first time in nine years.

If there were elements of fortune about the win, it was an ultimately deserved one as our high-flying opponents failed to impress when things started to slip away from them.

Villa had three good chances to open the scoring in the first half, but Laursen found the woodwork,  Ashley Young found Given alert and Agbonlahor found thin air when Milner presented him with a golden opportunity.

That low centre from the right was just about the only time that the former Newcastle winger looked a genuine threat on his first return to SJP, as he proved incapable of getting the better of Jose Enrique - hardly the mark of a Ł12m man and falling into the Huckerby category of returning player thus far, rather than the Cole one.

At the other end, Oba had already shown signs of being in the mood - responding to JFK's demands for selfishness with some superb turns being followed by a couple of range-finding snapshots.

Barton went close with a long range effort, while Steven Taylor was inches away from beginning and ending our best move of the half as he narrowly failed to reach Beye's cross in front of goal. Strange though that Setanta's coverage glossed over those in favour of endless reruns of Villa's chances.

After the break Villa applied some pressure without creating anything clear-cut but the deadlock was broken in style by Martins. Thirty minutes seemed a long time to have to hang on but rather than face a Villa onslaught, United's confidence grew and they took a stranglehold on the game.

Butt glanced the post with a free kick, but it was the Gutierrez who supplied the vital assist for a second to make the points safe. The relief was tangible and the visitors looked a beaten side as we knocked the ball around with a swagger sadly absent since the opening day draw at Old Trafford.

The scorer was awarded the sponsor's man of the match, but Ameobi's efforts were as important, despite some inexplicable free kick awards against him for the heinous crime of making a legal effort to gain possession.

And on a night when he showed some good touches, the skill of Gutierrez in providing the delivery for the second goal made it the most beautifully-executed one of the season - they all count the same, but some are more satisfying than others.

Beye almost nabbed a third in injury time, testing Friedel from a tight angle but Oba's two goals and the three points sent the crowd home happy and caused JFK to lose his voice - from cheering this time though, rather than swearing. 

There was even a late cameo for Owen from the bench, as our injury list receded back down to Viduka, Smith and Gonzalez - although injuries only tell part of the story of our season, it's beyond question that our fortunes have improved as players have returned to fitness.

Defeat in this game was unthinkable, but the topsy-turvy nature of this league thus far and the staggering of fixtures for TV means that we could sink again in advance of our next fixture.

After two priceless wins have boosted the confidence of squad and crowd alike though, there's evidence we're getting to grips with the task in hand - scoring goals, stopping goals and showing some of the stomach for the fight so lacking in earlier games.

What will ultimately set us apart from the Stokes of this world is the ability to create and score goals with skill of the calibre that Martins and Gutierrez served up . That's not to say we can't learn 
from other sides in this league though -as our set pieces remain woeful.      

Biffa