Adriana Leon scored twice on just her second start of the season
Aston Villa defeated West Ham United to earn a second win of the Women's Super League season and make it two wins in two games for interim head coach Shaun Goater.
Two first-half goals from Adriana Leon either side of a Viviane Asseyi header were enough for Villa to win consecutive home WSL matches for the first time this term.
Villa won just one of their opening nine league games and manager Robert de Pauw paid the price with his job.
Villa beat Charlton Athletic 4-1 in the League Cup in Goater's first game in charge on Wednesday, and took less than four minutes for his side to take the lead on his WSL debut.
Canada international Leon struggled for game time under De Pauw, but she made an immediate impression on her second start of the season by firing into the bottom corner after the visitors failed to clear a long ball forward.
West Ham came into the match off the back of two wins in their last three WSL games, as many wins as across their previous 26 league outings.
Rehanne Skinner's side didn't let the early setback rock them, and Asseyi drew them level 15 minutes later when she headed home Katrina Gorry's pin-point cross.
The Hammers thought they had taken the lead when Asseyi's free-kick sneaked in at the back post, but the goal was ruled out for a foul in the box.
Leon made the most of that near miss by restoring Villa's lead shortly after with another cool finish into the bottom corner after running onto Kenza Dali's excellent through ball.
Jordan Nobbs almost set up a third Villa goal on her 200th WSL appearance - the only player to reach that milestone - but Rachel Daly headed over from the fizzed cross.
The second half brought fewer clear chances although West Ham midfielder Seraina Piubel should have done better after Manuela Pavi found her with a defence-splitting pass.
Pavi then blazed over following pinball in the Villa box, before Leon was denied a hat-trick by a the palms of keeper Kinga Szemik.
As legs began to tire in the final 15 minutes, Dali collected the ball midway through the West Ham half before beating Szemik from the edge of the box with a vicious strike.
Victory moves Villa up to seventh in the table with nine points while West Ham drop to tenth with eight.
Step in the right direction for Villa
Ahead of his first WSL game in charge of Villa, Goater said the club "need to get results immediately", and that's exactly what he got.
His predecessor De Pauw was given just six months at the club, but after a summer of heavy investment in the squad - a club-record fee of £250,000 was spent on Gabi Nunes, while Missy Bo Kearns' move from Liverpool could end up costing £100,000 - one win in nine games simply wasn't good enough.
Villa began the season with top-five ambitions; while they trail fifth-place Brighton by eight points, a good run of results in the new year could turn their season around.
There's no denying that Villa's squad is a very talented one, but De Pauw failed to get the most out of it. Whoever replaces him on a permanent basis will be tasked with rebuilding a season which started far worse than anyone predicted.
West Ham have played well in spells of late but could have done with getting some more points on the board. They're first two WSL opponents after the winter break are Chelsea and Everton, the latter victors against Manchester City on Sunday.
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