Match report from tonight's home defeat in the encounter versus Aston Villa
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Martin O'Neill headed home from Upton Park with an early Christmas present after James Milner's 78th-minute cross deflected off Lucas Neill to give Aston Villa a victory that sends them into the festive season in third place.
But for Gianfranco Zola, this dismal defeat leaves goal-shy West Ham wobbling precariously in 17th place after the Scrooge-like, man-of-the-match, Brad Friedel boarded up his goal and left the Italian looking up to the bleak East End skies in sheer despair.
While the Hammers were unchanged following their dogged draw at Chelsea last Sunday, it was a totally different story in the opposing dug-out where only Luke Young, Steve Sidwell and Carlos Cuellar had retained their places following Villa's midweek UEFA Cup defeat in Hamburg.
That meant ex-Hammers Nigel Reo-Coker and Marlon Harewood were on the visitors' bench and the disappointed duo could only look on as their former club bossed the opening stages.
On six minutes. the breaking Craig Bellamy saw Friedel save his low, angled 15-yarder and then the unmarked Neill scuffed an effort straight at the relieved Villa keeper from just eight yards.
And the fantastic Friedel again rescued his team as the quarter-hour mark approached, when he diverted Bellamy's low, angled, close-range curler across goal after Herita Ilunga's thoughtful throughball had sent the Welshman deep behind enemy lines.
Calum Davenport also headed over the angle, before Champions League-chasing Villa finally found their feet.
First, Sidwell drilled wide from 18 yards and then the copper-topped midfielder scooped wide from ten yards out under the last-gasp challenge of Mark Noble.
Until then, Ashley Young had endured a subdued start but, on 26 minutes, he looked set to break the deadlock, when Scott Parker's careless pass left him with just Robert Green to beat.
The Hammers keeper forced him wide though and, as the angle diminished, the England winger could only look on in agony as his low shot brushed the base of the far post, before rolling to safety.
Ashley Young was left holding his head in his hands on the half-hour mark, too, when his 20-yard free-kick curled over the Hammers wall and just a whisker wide of Green's right-hand post.
At the other end, another Bellamy shot cannoned off the knee of Curtis Davies before looping over the bar before Friedel was once again his side's saviour when he pushed Valon Behrami's 25-yard scorcher high into the night.
But as a pulsating first period came to a close, it was Green who ensured that the half finished goalless, when he denied Milner with an outstretched foot before recovering to tip Gareth Barry's follow-up aside with a fantastic flying save.
Hayden Mullins replaced the injured Parker for the restart and, after Neill had headed Noble's well-flighted corner over the top, Zola was forced to bring on Lee Bowyer for the barn-storming Behrami who had a back injury.
With the crocked Cuellar also hobbling away, the injury curse had struck Villa, too, as Reo-Coker entered the contest to a chorus of boos from the claret and blue fans amongst the pre-Christmas crowd of 31,353.
Former Villa Park loanee Carlton Cole also became the villain of the piece, when he headed over at the far post before seeing Friedel smother his point-blank shot after the tireless Bellamy had picked out his strike-partner.
Despite having scored just four goals in 11 matches, West Ham still looked favourites to break the deadlock but, with just a dozen minutes remaining, Milner secured a fortuitous victory for Villa when his curling, left-wing cross looped off Neill's thigh and beyond the flat-footed Green, to leave the visitors in raptures and the bewildered Upton Park faithful on their knees. |
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