Rarely can a manager who has just won a derby match have looked so miserable. Roy Hodgson had a face like thunder after watching his team take all three points from Villa Park, as the Albion manager vented his anger at Alan Hutton and accused the Aston Villa full-back of making a "wicked challenge" on Shane Long.

The West Brom centre-forward, who has been so impressive since arriving from Reading in the summer, came back on the pitch after receiving lengthy treatment, but lasted only a few minutes before limping down the tunnel with suspected knee-ligament damage.

Hodgson said Long "could have had two broken legs" and said the tackle, which incredibly went unpunished, had completely overshadowed Albion's first league victory at Villa Park since 1979.

It was not the only controversial incident on an afternoon when the Aston Villa midfielder Chris Herd was sent off for an alleged stamp on Jonas Olsson. Hodgson, however, had little interest in discussing whether Herd had been unfortunate.

The Albion manager was unable to shake the image of Hutton clattering into Long in the 12th minute from his mind. Hutton made contact with the ball first, but he needlessly and recklessly followed through, with both feet off the ground, leaving Long in a heap on the floor. Phil Dowd, the referee, inexplicably failed to give a free-kick, but booked Hutton a few moments later for another challenge on Long, during the brief period when the former Reading forward had returned to the pitch.

"I'm very pleased with the performance and very pleased with the result, but I'm very disappointed about Shane Long's injury," Hodgson said. "I'm angered by the challenge still. So before any of you start talking to me about red cards, be very careful, because if ever I have seen a challenge that has merited a red card, it was Hutton's on Long. He's lucky. He could have had two broken legs.

"Everyone will be discussing whether Herd should or should not have been sent off, but I just want to make it clear that I don't care about that. I'm disappointed to lose Shane Long.

"Maybe he will be lucky and the scan will show it's not as bad as all that. We don't think it's a cruciate knee ligament, but I'm afraid there are a lot of other ligaments in knees that can keep you out of football for a long time. It's obviously a relatively serious injury and I expect it will be scanned tonight."

Alex McLeish, the Villa manager, felt that Hutton had "gone for the ball" and was unable to prevent the collision. "Was it a savage tackle? I don't think it was. In the penalty box, we see them 100 times and, unfortunately, Shane got injured. I understand what the argument will be; it will be that he's got the ball and followed through and collided with the player, but how can you stop in mid-air?"

McLeish, in truth, was more interested in discussing the incident involving Herd, who had been warned by Dowd just before his dismissal. "The sending-off was the turning point, no question," said McLeish, whose side were 1-0 up at the time thanks to Darren Bent's penalty, awarded when Ben Foster brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor after a defensive mix up with Steven Reid.

"The replay I've seen indicated Chris was extricating his foot from Olsson's grasp. We don't see a stamp. Until I see another picture that makes it look like he stamped on somebody, then it doesn't look like a sending-off."

From the penalty that followed, Chris Brunt sliced the ball horribly wide, although the reprieve was only a temporary one for Villa. Just before half-time, Olsson towered above the home side's defence to head Brunt's corner beyond Shay Given – and such was Albion's dominance in the second half that it felt like a matter of time before they added a second.

Paul Scharner duly obliged, thrashing home another Brunt corner to give Albion their second derby victory in the space of a week.