Albion 4, Birmingham 3

The credit spreads far and wide for a valuable first win in six games for Albion in their fight to avoid relegation.

David Stockdale made a turning-point penalty save.

Joao Teixeira scored twice for the second time in his last three home appearances.

Inigo Calderon scored twice for the first time in his career to celebrate his 200th game for the club.

Oh, and Beram Kayal made an accomplished full debut at the Amex.

That is the clue to where the lion's share of the credit goes for a breathless, pulsating victory against his former club.

Chris Hughton made some big calls before and after a contest which exceeded all expectations in its free-scoring nature.

Plenty were calling for Stockdale's head when, not for the first time, he was at fault for Nottingham Forest's equaliser in the previous home game, which ended in a destructive 3-2 defeat.

Hughton stuck to his guns, kept faith and Stockdale rewarded him with a pivotal performance off the back of consecutive clean sheets since that Forest faux pas, at Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday.

Own up, how many sighed when they saw the line-up selected by Hughton for Birmingham's visit?

Right-winger Emmanuel Ledesma remained on the bench following his loan move from Middlesbrough, explosive left-winger Kazenga LuaLua was only introduced in the frenetic closing stages.

Instead of turning to natural width Hughton retained the team that fought hard at Sheffield but failed to fashion many opportunities.

The names on the sheet were the same but his tinkering with some positions paid off handsomely.

Teixeira was moved back into a central role behind lone central striker Leon Best. The on-loan Liverpool craftsman thrived, just as he had when scoring twice in the previous victory at home to Ipswich last month.

Hughton swapped his Spaniards around again, shifting Calderon to the right-side of midfield with Bruno reverting to right-back.

They were the other way around at Cardiff and Sheffield. Hey presto, Calderon comes up trumps.

Throw in the impressive contribution of Kayal, bought by Hughton from Celtic last month, and it is fair to say Hughton's decision-making was a major factor in the outcome.

So too, evidently, was the work put in with the players on the training ground during the week, at least in an attacking sense. The movement of Sam Baldock in particular stretched Birmingham, obstinate during an undefeated six-match away sequence, into conceding four goals away from home for the first time since August.

You cannot have everything with this current Albion squad. They are, after all, not still within three points of the drop zone without good reason.

When they look solid they look meek going forward, when they look penetrative they look vulnerable at the back.

Hughton, who prides himself on his teams being resilient and organised, did not enjoy some of the defending, especially the late goals which offered Birmingham hope when they were 3-1 and 4-2 down.

He said: "I'm delighted with the four goals but, as delighted as I am with that, I'm frustrated that we played really well second half and should have made the game a lot more comfortable for ourselves.

"Their second and third goals were poor, almost identical. We needed to do better on them."

Hughton's opposite number Gary Rowett must have thought the same of his keeper Darren Randolph, who presented Albion with an early lead by allowing Teixeira's drive to squirm in at his near post.

The persistently irritating habit of conceding soon after scoring was maintained as Clayton Donaldson diverted a shot from Stephen Gleeson for his 12th of the season to pull Birmingham level within five minutes.

They would have been ahead against the run of play at the interval but for Stockdale first denying Donaldson in a one-v-one, then foiling Paul Caddis from the spot on the stroke of half-time with a dive left and strong left hand.

The value of Stockdale's intervention was emphasised when Calderon swept in Baldock's cross from close range to restore the lead five minutes after the break.

It was 3-1 by the 58th minute, Teixeira rifling his sixth of the campaign after Randolph made a smothering block from Baldock from a cross by Bruno, making amends for a silly challenge on Andrew Shinnie which gave away the penalty.

Spirited Birmingham were far from beaten. Rowett effectively had four strikers on the pitch as substitute Wesley Thomas turned and fired them back into contention with 12 minutes remaining.

Calderon's second five minutes from time, latching onto Lewis Dunk's blocked header, should have ensured a smooth finale but another shot on the turn by Lee Novak, the other half of a double-change by Rowett, resurrected a nervy last couple of minutes of added time.

It could easily have been 7-6, such were the chances spurned by both sides along with those taken.

Hughton labelled Stockdale's penalty save as "massively important" in helping Albion to only their fourth home league win and seventh in total.

He said: "They are a good group of lads. Our form has been up and down so it's really good to get a home win. When you look at the stats of the season, what we haven't been able to do is win enough games.

"As regards conceding goals we are very good, certainly in relation to where we are in the league, so we know we can be tight as a unit, but we haven't scored enough or won enough. We've drawn a lot of games so we needed that confidence to come back."

And the manager's decision-making to make a difference.