Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert feels justified going with Christian Benteke over Darren Bent this season.

Lambert was asked whether he ever doubted the decision to dump proven £24million hitman Bent for the inexperienced £8m Benteke when his team were in the drop zone.

The Scot, who takes Villa to relegated Wigan today, said: "I don't think about reputations. Reputations don't win you games, you have to buy into the team.

"When I first came to the club, it was a case of getting somebody to play with Darren and after losing Emile Heskey, we needed a target man - a number nine. I wanted someone of that ilk and Christian came.

"Then I started looking what system was going to suit the squad we had and we ended up playing one guy up front.

"The best striker for that was Christian Benteke and looking at his form you can see why.

"There was nothing personal in it but we had to get a team that was going to win games. I stuck with it and I don't think anybody could argue with what happened.

"Right from the off, when Benteke came in, he scored. That made me think Christian was going to lead the line - and he became an absolute cornerstone for us."