West Ham United vs. Aston Villa

Zavon Hines’s late, late goal, a cool dink over Brad Friedel after constant pressure had 10-man Aston Villa slumped to the ground and manager Martin O’Neill with his hands on his knees. And it was enough to finally lift West Ham out of the relegation places

A breathless encounter was settled by the impressive young striker after Ashley Young, atoning for a penalty miss, cancelled out Mark Noble's first-half opener from the spot.

Habib Beye was sent off with six minutes to go and the 10 men were undone when Hines struck to lift Gianfranco Zola's side out of the bottom three.

The Hammers looked the more determined of the two sides in the early stages as they probed the Villa defence but were denied by an impressive Brad Friedel in the Villa goal.

As the first half drew to a close it was the visitors who were causing all the problems but West Ham were given a lifeline as referee Steve Bennett awarded a controversial penalty.

Manuel Da Costa appeared to have headed the ball clear but Bennett clearly thought his feet had come into contact with James Collins.

None of the other Villa players appealed for the spot-kick but Bennett waved away West Ham's furious appeals.

But justice was seen to be done for the home side when Young's penalty was superbly kept out by Green.

The England goalkeeper dived low to his left to parry it to safety to the delight of home fans.

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.

With the game seemingly drifting towards a draw Hines, who had come on for England striker Carlton Cole after 30 minutes, collected a Scott Parker pass to lash in the winner and earned West Ham their first home win of the campaign.