Marlon Harewood was again the scourge of Aston Villa as Alan Pardew's side came from behind to halt their recent Premiership slump.

Harewood had grabbed a hat-trick when the Hammers defeated Villa 4-0 at Upton Park in September.

And the former Nottingham Forest player tucked away the decisive penalty after a second-half revival to put an end to a sequence of one point from the previous five games.

The phrase 'a game of two halves' is overused but it was appropriate on this occasion and Villa manager David O'Leary was left scratching his head at how his side let their dominance in the opening 45 minutes ebb away.

Villa looked on course to continue a run which had seen them beaten only once in the previous nine league games after Lee Hendrie had headed them in front.

The game could have been over as a contest by the interval had Milan Baros been sharper in front of goal.

But whatever Pardew had put in his players' half-time drink worked wonders as it was one-way traffic towards the Villa goal for most of the second period.

Nigel Reo-Coker and Hayden Mullins seized a grip of midfield, Paul Konchesky overlapped to telling effect and Harewood caused plenty of problems up front.

West Ham made a positive start and Harewood's pass found the overlapping Tomas Repka in plenty of space on the right flank.

He sent over a low cross which went all the way through to Matthew Etherington at the far post but he could only sidefoot the ball back into the arms of Villa keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Villa responded and Eirik Bakke got on the end of James Milner's free-kick but could not keep his effort down as it flew over Roy Carroll's crossbar.

Milner had the confidence to make a surging run at the heart of the Hammers defence but the end product was disappointing as his shot was high and wide.

Baros had a couple of opportunities after cutting inside the West Ham area but on both occasions the final shot lacked any real power and was blocked.

Villa were forced to make a substitution after only 12 minutes when Bakke limped out of the action to be replaced by Hendrie.

The midfielder entered the fray to a mixture of boos and cheers after stating his unhappiness at being unable to attain regular first team football.

Hendrie quickly made his presence felt with a telling pass into the path of Aaron Hughes but he overhit his eventual cross.

Mullins would have been disappointed to send a free header over the bar from Etherington's corner but Villa were generally in control and after 28 minutes Hendrie made the breakthrough.

Milner's pass provided Samuel with the space to burst into the West Ham box and his cross was met by Hendrie who sent a glancing header past Carroll into the far corner of the net.

Villa skipper Olof Mellberg became the first player to be yellow carded for a challenge on Etherington who was looking a threat down the left flank.

The home side nearly doubled their lead when a quick counter-attack saw Baros just fail at full stretch to connect with Mark Delaney's cross after he had linked up well with Hendrie.

West Ham could have drawn level within three minutes of the restart when Mullins had a free header from Shaun Newton's corner but failed to make any impact.

The visitors looked fired up and after 51 minutes were back on level terms through Bobby Zamora's eighth goal of the campaign.

Hendrie was adjudged to have handled Konchesky's cross and the England defender took the resulting free-kick himself.

Zamora lost the attention of his marker Aaron Hughes and planted a powerful header past the exposed Sorensen.

Villa tried to strike back immediately and Carroll clung onto a powerful header by Hendrie from a deep hanging cross by Samuel.

But West Ham had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Newton's low drive was saved by Sorensen after he had been teed up by Harewood.

The visitors were not to be denied and after 60 minutes Harewood put them in front from the penalty spot with his 10th goal of the campaign.

Delaney was adjudged to have handled Mullin's powerful shot and Harewood made no mistake as he sent Sorensen the wrong way.

Teams

Aston Villa Sorensen, Hughes, Mellberg, Delaney, Samuel, Davis, Bakke (Hendrie 12), McCann, Milner, Baros, Moore (Angel 60).

Subs Not Used: Taylor, Ridgewell, Gardner.

Booked: Mellberg.

Goals: Hendrie 27.

West Ham Carroll, Repka, Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Konchesky, Newton (Benayoun 71), Reo-Coker, Mullins, Etherington (Dailly 81), Harewood, Zamora (Katan 74).

Subs Not Used: Hislop, Clarke.

Booked: Mullins, Katan, Harewood.

Goals: Zamora 51, Harewood 60 pen.

Att: 36,700

Ref: P Dowd (Staffordshire).