West Ham 2-1 Aston Villa: Zavon Hines Strikes Late For Hammers

A late strike by Zavon Hines earned West Ham a 2-1 win over Aston Villa to help ease the pressure on the Upton Park team. Mark Noble's penalty on the brink of half-time earlier gave the home team the lead, but Ashley Young's wonder strike, after he earlier had a penalty saved, threatened to earn Villa a point before Hines late strike.

West Ham United, who were stunned on Saturday as ten-man Sunderland came back from two goals down to earn a draw against them, shuffled their defense with James Tomkins and Jonathan Spector making way for Julien Faubert and Manuel Da Costa. While Scott Parker returned from suspension to replace the suspended Radoslav Kovac.

Meanwhile Aston Villa, fresh from earning a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park on Saturday, gave goalscorer John Carew a starting place alongside Emile Heskey with James Milner missing out, and replaced the suspended Carlos Cuellar with summer signing Habib Beye.

A raucous atmosphere greeted the teams as the home fans sought to rally their team who have endured a struggling start to their season and Gianfranco Zola's team were immediately on the front foot, settling into their short passing game.

With Fabio Capello in attendance a number of England hopefuls were aiming to impress, and strikers Carlton Cole and Gabriel Agbonlahor both threatened early on.

Aston Villa began to look lively, with Agbonlahor and Young's pace on the counterattack always providing them with an outlet. While West Ham, epitomized by the lively Parker and Jack Collison in midfield, were bursting with energy and eagerness and Mark Noble breaking from midfield forced Brad Friedel into a smart save.

Stiliyan Petrov came close to a wonder strike for the away team, when Young's corner was cleared, his first-time half volley was expertly tipped over by Robert Green. The West Ham keeper was another man keen to impress the watching England manager and shortly after made a comfortable save from Agbonlahor.

West Ham's hopes took a serious blow after 30 minutes when Cole went off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and was replaced by the pacy Hines.

Chances were few and far between as the game settled down after a lively opening with Aston Villa's main threat coming from set-pieces, while West Ham were unable to worry the strong center-back pairing of Richard Dunne and Hammers old boy James Collins, who were dominant in the air and on the ground.

But on the brink of half-time the home side were handed a chance to take the lead. Substitute Hines broke into the left side of the penalty area, and was challenged by Beye who appeared to get the ball. Yet to the disbelief of the Villa defenders - Collins was booked for his protests - referee Steve Bennett gave the penalty.

Noble stepped up, and with his customary assurance emphatically fired the ball high into the net past Friedel and gave the West Ham fans something to cheer going into half-time.

The home fans were given something else to shout about at half-time as ex-captain Nigel Reo-Coker was introduced for Heskey - further diminishing the number of potential England strikers on show for Capello.

Yet the home supports' cheers threatened to be short-lived as referee Bennett gave another debatable penalty, this time to the away team, as Manuel Da Costa's challenge on Collins was deemed dangerous. Young stepped up but his penalty was saved by Green.

Yet the Villa man atoned for his error three minutes later with a wonderful goal. Cutting in from the left flank, Young gave Green no chance, as he fired an exquisite effort past him high into the top right corner of the goal.

This seemed to galvanize Villa, who like against Everton, had emerged from the half-time break with far more purpose and intent. Petrov smashed an effort goalwards which was blocked by Parker.

But West Ham fought hard to stem the tide, and in the pace of Hines had a player willing to run the challenge and get in behind the Villa defense. Faubert's dangerous cross narrowly evaded everyone in the area, while Da Costa's shot went wide and Collison's effort was easily saved by the American goalkeeper.

Then poor play by Collins presented the ball to Hines midway through the Villa half, the England under-21 attacker advanced to the penalty area but his shot drifted harmlessly over the crossbar. He then made a clever diagonal run into the box, but his effort was dragged wide.

But bar his contributions, which will have provided some interest to the watching Capello, the game was threatening to fade to a premature end as neither side committed to chasing the win, perhaps mindful of their respective positions in the table.

Yet Villa's position was threatened when Beye, who was booked for his role in the West Ham goal, was sent off for a second bookable offense after a challenge on Spector.

Villa introduced Luke Young to stiffen their defense, while West Ham hoped to inject some creativity into their attack with the introduction of Luis Jimenez.

It paid dividends as West Ham managed to snatch the victory through the immensely impressive Hines. Displaying quick feet, he broke away from the Villa defense in the area and fired past Friedel to earn West Ham their first home win of the campaign.

Alex Stamp, Goal.com