Savo Milosevic came off the substitutes' bench to keep Aston Villa's faint European dream alive as the home side benefited from a double dose of luck to beat fellow UEFA Cup hopefuls West Ham at Villa Park.

The Hammers could hardly believe their eyes when they hit the woodwork twice from the same corner in the first half, with first Ian Pearce's header thundering back off the underside of the crossbar and then keeper Mark Bosnich recovering to tip Steve Lomas's follow-up effort onto his near post.

And although Villa enjoyed the lion's share of possession, their poor finishing and the form of West Ham keeper Bernard Lama kept them at bay until fortune smiled again on John Gregory's side in the 77th minute.

French international Lama looked to have midfielder Ian Taylor's shot from the edge of the penalty area safely covered until it took a wicked deflection off striker Julian Joachim and left him wrong-footed as it rolled into the net.

Then, as the Hammers pressed for an equaliser, Villa broke clear six minutes later, Dwight Yorke found Lee Hendrie in the area and Lama could only parry the 20-year-old midfielder's shot.

Milosevic, whom manager John Gregory had ironically admitted only this week that he would be willing to sell for £4.5million if the right offer came in, was lurking and sidefooted the ball home from short-range.

The Yugoslav international had only been on the pitch for 18 minutes - after having been initially left on the bench on his comeback from suspensions - when he scored to secure victory for Villa, who probably need to win all their remaining matches to make a late run into a European qualification spot.

Yet for most of the match it had looked as if West Ham, who started the day in seventh spot and had not lost a league match since January 17 at Tottenham, would at least come away with a point.

Villa, who kept faith with the side that won 4-1 at Everton last weekend, needed keeper Mark Bosnich to be alert twice in the first-half as he raced off his line to smother as first Frank Lampard - back after a ban alongside Steve Lomas - and Trevor Sinclair raced towards goal.

Yorke put a free-kick into the wall after David Unsworth had held back Ian Taylor on the edge of the area and then shot over the bar when the ball rebounded to him - a feat matched by Hendrie shortly afterwards.

After the woodwork had twice saved Villa from Lampard's corner, Lama pulled off a great save at the other end to block a Steve Staunton effort and then performed acrobatics to tip a 20-yard drive from Yorke over the bar.

Villa pressed forward with increasing urgency and when Milosevic was put clear on the left by Alan Wright, he cut inside before placing his shot just inside the far post - only for Lama to fling himself to his left to get the faintest of touches on the ball and deflect it onto the post.

Yorke could also have added another goal when Milosevic found him unmarked in the penalty box but again Lama managed to block his shot with his body.

Teams

Aston Villa: Bosnich, Charles (Milosevic 65), Staunton, Southgate, Ehiogu, Taylor, Draper (Grayson 69), Yorke, Joachim, Wright, Hendrie.

Subs Not Used: Nelson, Barry, Oakes.

Goals: Joachim 77, Milosevic 83.

West Ham: Lama, Potts (Abou 81), Unsworth, Sinclair, Hartson, Lomas, Ferdinand, Moncur, Lazaridis, Lampard, Pearce.

Subs Not Used: Impey, Mean, Berkovic, Forrest.

Att: 39,372

Ref: S W Dunn (Bristol).