Substitute Zavon Hines scored an injury-time winner to secure a 2-1 victory against 10-man Aston Villa to lift struggling West Ham out of the bottom three.

Robert Green pulled off a magnificent save when the Hammers half cleared a corner and Stiliyan Petrov volleyed the ball towards goal from fully 30 yards. The ball took a deflection on its way towards the top corner but somehow Green managed to get his fingertips in the way.

Gabriel Agbonlahor brought another fine save from Green when he let fly with an angled drive from the left side of the penalty area. It got worse for the Hammers when England international Carlton Cole collected an injury and had to be replaced by Hines. But they were given a penalty in first-half injury-time when Habib Beye brought down Hines. Beye was booked and Mark Noble sent his spot-kick into the roof of the net to give the home side the lead.

Referee Steve Bennett was at the centre of controversy when he awarded Villa 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 but Bennett waved away West Ham's furious appeals.

But justice was seen to be done for the home side when Ashley Young's penalty was superbly kept out by Green. He dived low to his left to parry it to safety to the delight of home fans. But their euphoria was shortlived when Young atoned for his penalty miss with a superb equaliser, curling a shot over the head of Green and into the top corner to put the visitors on level terms.

Beye was then sent off for a second bookable offence, a foul on Jonathan Spector, to leave Villa down to 10 men for the remainder of the game. And West Ham grabbed the decider when Hines fired Scott Parker's pass into the roof of the net.