A stunning volley from Matt Jarvis helped boost Wolves’ Premier League survival hopes as they claimed their first victory over Villa since March 1980.

Wolves produced a performance full of endeavour and were good value for the three points, as they ended a run of 18 games without a victory over the claret and blues.

Jarvis struck the decisive blow in the 38th minute with a strike of real quality, smashing the ball home from the edge of the penalty area to net his fifth goal of the season.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy made one change from the team which drew 3-3 with Tottenham, as Jamie O’Hara came into the starting line-up in place of Stephen Ward.

Villa boss Gerard Houllier made three changes from the side which lost to Bolton, as Chris Herd and Carlos Cuellar came in for the injured Luke Young and the suspended Ciaran Clark, while Jean Makoun replaced Fabian Delph who dropped to the bench.

Goalkeeper Brad Friedel was called into action for Villa in the second minute, after Adam Hammill got better of Nathan Baker with a jinking run down the right before pulling the ball back to Nenad Milijas, who saw his low shot pushed past the post.

The home side enjoyed long spell of possession as the first-half wore on and looked threatening going forward without really testing Wayne Hennessey in the Wolves goal.

Wolves had the ball in the net in the 20th minute when the dangerous Hammill delivered a cross from the right into a crowded area and Christophe Berra headed past Friedel, but the assistant referee had already flagged for offside.

However, Wolves broke the deadlock two minutes later when a long diagonal free-kick from Jamie O’Hara aimed at Berra was weakly headed away by Carlos Cuellar.

The ball dropped to Matt Jarvis and his sweetly-struck volley flew past a flat-footed Friedel into the bottom right corner of the net to send the travelling support into raptures.

Jean Makoun missed a great opportunity to level for Villa just before the half-time interval, when Downing’s dinked a ball into the box following a corner but the unmarked Makoun headed wide.

Villa felt they should have had a penalty in the 52nd minute when Richard Stearman fouled Darren Bent, but referee Phil Dowd judged that the offence took place outside the box although TV replays suggested the initial contact was made inside the area.

O’Hara saw his swerving 30-yard volley fly just over the crossbar in the 65th minute, before Friedel saved brilliantly from a spectacular Milijas effort from a similar distance moments later.

Young struck the bar in the 79th minute after latching on to a clever through-ball from Makoun but, despite a period of heavy pressure from the home side, Wolves hung on stretch their unbeaten run to four games.

The result heaped further pressure on Houllier as the Villa fans booed off the team at the final whistle, having earlier displayed a flag in the Holte End before kick-off which read ‘Had enough, Houllier out.’