All eyes may have been on Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, but in the end it was a good old East End Boy who rescued a second half point for West Ham in this end-to-end encounter.

Bobby Zamora, life-long Hammers fan and the Premiership's top scorer, struck his fifth goal in four games with a 52^nd-minute equaliser that wiped out Liam Ridgewell's fourth-minute opener for a well-organised Aston Villa side.

Following 11 days of east end expectation, the South American pair had found themselves named on the bench alongside 'keeper Robert Green, Carlton Cole and fit-again Matthew Etherington, as Alan Pardew made just one switch from the team that lost at Anfield.

But after recalling Tyrone Mears in place of the injured John Pantsil, Pards' pre-match video appeal to the fans to respect his decision to keep the Argentinian duo tucked up his sleeve at the start of a new era for the club, was well received by a sun-drenched Upton Park crowd, who knew that the new boy's time would come.

Unbeaten in their opening trio of games, Villa made two changes from the side that beat Newcastle United a fortnight ago as Stilian Petrov, Martin O'Neill's £6.5m capture from Celtic, was handed his debut, while Martin Laursen also returned.

And the Midlanders wasted no time in gate-crashing the cockney samba party, when Liam Ridgewell bundled the visitors into the lead on just four minutes, after Roy Carroll could only parry the ball into his path after Gabriel Agbonlahor met Gareth Barry's well-flighted corner with a point-blank header.

West Ham should have levelled shortly afterwards when Thomas Sorensen scuffed his upfield clearance straight to Marlon Harewood, just ten yards out, but after advancing and committing the embarrassed, exposed Villa 'keeper, the Hammers' striker was left equally red-faced when he sliced his shot wide of the target.

On the quarter-hour mark, Barry's second corner again caused havoc in the Hammers' box when the airborne Juan Pablo Angel sent his header crashing off the bar, and midway through the half another flag-kick saw Harewood frantically hack off his own line following a frantic scramble.

Then, ten minutes before the break, Angel tickled the woodwork once more, when he met Barry's left-wing cross with a glancing header that skimmed off the relieved Carroll's crossbar.

Up until then, the biggest Upton Park cheer from the sell-out 34,576 crowd had been reserved for the emergence of Tevez and Mascherano from the dug-out for a warm-up but, as the interval approached, Nigel Reo-Coker reminded the visitors that they still had a game on their hands with a steamrollering run and low, 20-yarder that flew wide of the base of Sorensen's right-hand post.

That flash of resistance clearly gave Pards something to work on during the interval, and within 30 seconds of the restart, Harewood unleashed a low, angled shot that flew behind.

On 50 minutes, Laursen's brave goal-line block thwarted Zamora at the base of Sorensen's left-hand upright.

But the striker's exasperation turned to ecstasy seconds later when Lee Bowyer's corner to the edge of the box was headed back through the pack by Paul Konchesky and, standing just six yards out, the Hammers' in-form striker raised his leg to apply the deftest of touches and level with that table-topping fifth goal of the season.

Despite having seen their lead evaporate, Villa continued to press and after Petrov was denied a debut goal when Mears acrobatically hooked the Bulgarian's clever chip off the line, the flying Carroll then palmed out Barry's shot before Anton Ferdinand scrambled Agbonlahor's goal-bound effort clear.

On the hour, Tevez finally stepped from the bench as Harewood stood down but as Etherington replaced Bowyer and Cole came on for Zamora, there was to be no run out for Mascherano this time around.

But the lively Tevez showed enough trademark touches and his late skier left the Upton Park crowd eager for more, while Konchesky's unplayable cross into the six yard box only needed a claret and blue touch.

In the end, both sides had to settle for a point, but with Zamora top of the goal charts and Hammers lying in eighth-place, there can be plenty of optimism as the east enders prepare to kick-off their UEFA Cup campaign against Palermo on Thursday evening.