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  • Heskey (11)
  • Tristan (85)
  • Date:2009-04-18
  • Kick-off:15:00
  • Venue:Villa Park
  • Attendance:39534
  • Referee:Styles, R

Live Commentary

90mins

Full Time: ASTON VILLA 1-1 WEST HAM: Tristan's late equaliser cancels out Heskey's first half strike in an end-to-end tussle.

90mins

Green and Tomkins robbed the ball from Carew just as he looked to fire home an injury time winner for Villa.

90mins

Sears forces Cuellar into a rushed clearance. Corner to West Ham.

89mins

Upson goes into the referee's book for a foul on Ashley Young.

89mins

West Ham are on top as we go into two minutes of added time. Can the visitors force a winner?

86mins

Friedel does brilliantly to palm over a deflected shot from Noble.

85mins

Dyer bursts through the Villa defence but his pass to Tristan is overhit and runs out for a throw to the home side.

83mins

ASTON VILLA 1-1 WEST HAM: TRISTAN manages to get his head on Dyer's shot to deflect the ball home from six yards out.

80mins

Milner is replaced by Gardner.

80mins

Di Michele leaves the field and is replaced by Sears.

80mins

Great chance for West Ham. Di Michele set up Tristan but Ashley Young managed to block his shot and Friedel smothered the rebound.

79mins

What a miss by Carew. The striker got his head to Ashley Young's cross but sent the ball over the bar from four yards out.

77mins

Ashley Young sends over a cross looking for Delfouneso but the ball goes out for a goal kick.

75mins

Savio's first touch is to drive the ball towards the corner flag and out for a goal kick.

73mins

Savio comes on for Stanislas.

71mins

Luke Young just manages to steal the ball from Tristan on the edge of the Villa box.

69mins

Goal scorer Heskey leaves the field to a standing ovation as youngster Delfouneso takes to the field.

67mins

Luke Young sent in a great cross for Carew but he poked his shot wide of the target from six yards out.

65mins

Ashley Young dances into the West Ham box but screws his shot wide of the target.

63mins

Petrov is booked for a late tackle on Noble.

63mins

Milner drives a shot goalwards but the ball flies wide of Green's left hand post.

60mins

Good work by Boa Morte and Di Michele forces a corner for West Ham.

56mins

Luke Young heads Neill's cross clear as West Ham look for an equaliser.

54mins

Davies gets a head to Noble's fierce drive and deflects it wide of the Villa goal.

52mins

Tomkins just manages to clear the ball after a dangerous cross from Ashley Young.

50mins

Green does well to claim the ball under pressure from Barry and Carew.

48mins

Green is forced into a good save from Heskey's shot after Carew's flick header played in the Villa striker.

47mins

Villa fans scream for a penalty after Carew and Upson went down in a heap. It looked a spot kick to the home side but ref Styles awarded it the other way.

46mins

We're back underway at Villa Park.

45mins

Half Time: ASTON VILLA 1-0 WEST HAM: Villa go in at the break with a slender lead thanks to Heskey's neat finish. There's been plenty of chances for both sides and it looks like there could be more goals to come in this one.

44mins

Ashley Young is shown a yellow card for fighting with Neill.

44mins

Di Michele takes a shot but it flies straight into Friedel's arms.

43mins

Petrov fires in a swerving shot that Green does well to parry out for a corner.

42mins

Stanislas glances a cross from Ilunga wide of the Villa goal.

41mins

The game has just slowed after a furious opening 40 minutes.

39mins

Boa Morte is booked for diving in the Villa box.

38mins

Shorey just manages to take the ball off Ilunga as he raced into the Villa box.

35mins

Stanislas tries his luck from 30 yards out but his shot goes over the bar.

33mins

Collins hasn't recovered from that tussle with Carew and is replaced by Dyer.

31mins

Milner heads the ball over the bar from Barry's cross. It was a difficult chance.

29mins

Collins almost puts through his own net after good play by Ashley Young.

27mins

It should be 2-0 to Villa. Noble played a poor back pass to Green that Heskey seized on but his shot came back off the post.

25mins

A last ditch challenge from Boa Morte on Heskey breaks up a flowing move by Villa.

23mins

Green was flat-footed but the shot from Ashley Young goes just wide of the upright.

22mins

Ashley Young is brought down 25 yards from goal. Free kick to Villa.

21mins

Ashley Young sends over a teasing cross that misses everyone and sails out for a goal kick.

19mins

Noble is the first player to go into Rob Styles' notebook.

18mins

This is real end-to-end stuff now. Villa come close to doubling their lead but Heskey can't get his header on target after a great cross by Barry.

16mins

Good save by Green. The ball came out to Milner who hit a fierce shot that the England keeper pushed out for a corner.

13mins

Tomkins almost brings West Ham back into the game. It was Di Michele who smahsed a shot goalwards that Friedel palmed back out to the West Ham man - but he failed to poke the ball home.

11mins

ASTON VILLA 1-0 WEST HAM: HESKEY sweeps the ball home from inside the West Ham box after good work by Ashley Young.

10mins

So close for Villa. It was Shorey who fired in a great cross but Barry's flick header drifted inches wide of the far post.

8mins

Another good chance for Stanislas. Ilunga found him on the edge of the Villa box but Milner raced across to block his shot.

6mins

It looks like Collins has picked up an injury in the clash with Carew and has signalled to the bench that he needs treatment.

5mins

Carew did well to turn Collins but his shot was blocked and cleared by the West Ham defender.

3mins

What a save by Friedel! Boa Morte sent youngster Stanislas through on goal but the Villa keeper did brilliantly to palm his shot wide of the target.

1mins

Referee Rob Styles gets the game started. Villa will be hoping to close the gap to Arsenal in fourth with a win against the Hammers, but the visitors have plenty to play for as they battle for a place in the next season's Europa League.

0mins

The teams are out at Villa Park - the home side have had to change into their third kit to avoid a clash with West Ham's all blue strip!

0mins

West Ham: Green, Tomkins, Upson, Collins, Ilunga, Neill, Boa Morte, Stanislas, Noble, Di Michele, Tristan

0mins

Midfielder Radoslav Kovac has failed to recover from a thigh injury so youngster Junior Stanislas keeps his place. Scott Parker and Carlton Cole are both still injured.

0mins

Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Davies, Cuellar, Shorey, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Heskey, Carew

0mins

Aston Villa must do without Gabriel Agbonlahor (hamstring) but do welcome back fellow England striker Emile Heskey.

Match Preview

Aston Villa cannot afford another slip if they are to claw back Arsenal's lead and snatch the last qualifying spot for the Champions League.

Martin O'Neill's side are eight points adrift of the Gunners in the fourth and final qualifying place following a disappointing run of results since the turn of the year.

Last weekend's thrilling 3-3 draw with Everton was cause for optimism as Villa avoided slipping to a sixth successive Premier League defeat.

But stand-in skipper Gareth Barry has admitted they realistically need to win all six of their remaining games to finish fourth in the table.

"There are six games and we have to target to win all of them and see where it leaves us," he said.

"That's two good performances (following the previous weekend's 3-2 defeat at Manchester United) we've put in and we just managed the one point.

"We've got another home game coming up and hopefully the fans will come down again and get right behind us."

Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor could be buoyed on Saturday after both were named on a shortlist of six for the PFA Young Player of the Year award during the week.

Elsewhere, Carlos Cuellar (back), Martin Laursen (knee) and Emile Heskey (hamstring) will all miss out through injury.

West Ham United travel to Villa Park looking to maintain their push for a place in next season's UEFA Europa League.

The Hammers are in control of their own destiny at the moment as, with six games remaining in the season, they are seventh and on course to edge out the likes of Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.

Last weekend, an injury-ravaged side went down 1-0 at Tottenham but that was a first defeat in six league games for Gianfranco Zola's side.

Zola will be hoping to have Scott Parker and Radoslav Kovac back following groin and thigh problems, but that still leaves a host of star names in the treatment room.

Dean Ashton, Carlton Cole, Valon Behrami and Danny Gabbidon are just some of the absentees.


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Match Report

Aston Villa's slump in playing fortunes continued when they failed yet again to win at Villa Park as West Ham salvaged a point with a late equaliser.

Villa have now gone 11 league and cup games without a win and the point they collected from West Ham was only their third in eight matches.

Yet again Villa had most of the play but they failed to capitalise on Emile Heskey's 11th-minute strike and it is obvious how much they have missed the influence of Martin Laursen who has been absent since Villa began their poor run.

West Ham were always potentially dangerous with their cultured play and they collected a valuable away point thanks to Diego Tristan's 85th-minute equaliser.

For a long spell it appeared as if Villa were heading for their fourth 1-0 win in the last five games against the Hammers but the London side were certainly worth their point.

Villa were extremely lucky not to be a goal down in the second minute of the match. The Birmingham club, forced to play in their third-choice all-white strip because of a clash with West Ham's second-choice shirts, were easily penetrated by a defence-splitting pass from Mark Noble.

Junior Stanislas went through by himself and it was only a brilliant save by Brad Friedel which prevented the Hammers taking a shock lead.

Stanislas collected another astute pass only for James Milner to produce a timely tackle to prevent a shot on target.

Villa's reply was a Gareth Barry header from Nicky Shorey's cross which went just wide.

But there was no mistake in the tenth minute when Barry put Milner in possession and the former Newcastle winger put over a cross which Heskey converted for his second goal in nine games.

West Ham, chasing a top-seven spot and a place in Europe next term, were denied an equaliser by another Friedel save from David Di Michele with James Tomkins lashing the rebound over the bar.

With so much open play and with both defences in a seemingly carefree mood chances abounded at both ends.

Ashley Young clipped the post, while Heskey latched onto a back-pass from Noble only to see his effort smash against the post.

Some smart attacking play, inspired by Noble, generated several good openings for West Ham but Villa held on to their slender lead as a result of fine work by the likes of Barry, Milner and Stilyan Petrov.

Heskey was Villa's dangerman and he was prevented from notching a second goal following a clever flipped pass from John Carew when Robert Green closed the angle to block the England striker's close-range shot.

Strangely Villa struggled to finish off West Ham. They continued to create several good openings but the lack of real finishing power enabled West Ham to remain in contention.

Villa's defence was at panic stations with only 12 minutes remaining as they failed dismally to clear their lines. Only another good save by Friedel from Luis Boa Morte kept their goal intact.

But in the 84th minute Kieron Dyer's shot was instinctively headed home by Tristan to keep the storm clouds over Villa Park.

Aston Villa

West Ham United

Corners

1211

Fouls

910

Goal attempts

1718

Shots off target

89

Offsides

10

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