Kanouté keeps hopes alive

West Ham United 2 Aston Villa

Next weekend, the Easter bunny will bring West Ham a visit to Bolton that could effectively determine whether they return to the Nationwide League after 10 years up among the big boys. Yesterday's draw, while the Lancashire side were losing at Chelsea, brought the two teams within three points of each other, but having started and finished the afternoon strongly, Glenn Roeder's charges must regard themselves as having missed an opportunity to tilt the odds in their favour.

Although unbeaten in six games, they are still not making up much ground and lost the chance to drag Aston Villa down into the mire because of a poor defensive spell on either side of half-time that cost two goals. Trevor Sinclair's effort in the first quarter of an hour ought to have settled his side down, but there was a nervousness about their work afterwards that allowed Villa's under-strength side into contention and then into the lead. Frédèric Kanouté's equaliser was no more than West Ham deserved, but Peter Enckelman's goalkeeping denied them greater reward, to leave Roeder frustrated and encouraged in just about equal measure.

"We could have been out of sight in the first 15 minutes," he said. "We've let Aston Villa off the hook, but also gained a point on Bolton. There's still 15 points to play for and we'll play for every one." None are as important as on Saturday, when defeat would leave the London side six points behind the pack and facing the calamitous prospect of relegation with debts of £35m.

Not that Villa, with Chelsea and Newcastle to take on over Easter, are able to relax yet. An astonishing 5-2 victory at Middlesbrough in January had them thinking in terms of the top eight, according to the manager, Graham Taylor, an assessment that has had to be revised sharply downwards. "If we'd lost here, we'd have been right in the relegation fight," he said. "But we showed great character and deserved what we got."

Taylor's build-up to the game was not promising, with a flu virus costing him the services of Alpay Ozalan and Ronny Johnsen, while Dion Dublin, the leading scorer, was still suspended. Lee Hendrie had to be replaced midway through the first half yet, oddly, Villa's fortunes improved from that moment.

At the corresponding game last season, anyone arriving late and leaving early missed all the excitement – Dublin scoring for the visitors in the first minute and Jermain Defoe equalising in the last. Any latecomers yesterday would have had time to settle before, in the eighth minute, Steve Lomas headed into the arms of a fortunate Enckelman via bar and post. Defoe, normally so reliable in a one-on-one, then pulled his shot wide when sent clear by Lomas's header, but all was forgiven in the 15th minute as Kanouté's low cross reached Sinclair, whose sharp drive from 12 yards went through the goalkeeper's dive.

Loss of discipline by Tomas Repka allowed Villa an undeserved equaliser nine minutes before the interval. Having blatantly body-checked Darius Vassell for a yellow card, Repka nudged Marcus Allback to concede a penalty, calmly tucked away by Vassell. It was only the visitors' second opportunity of the afternoon.

Thomas Hitzlsperger provided the third as Villa improved, unleashing one of his fulminating drives that David James did well to push away. West Ham's nerves were being stretched, along with those of the crowd, and an extraordinary spell early in the second half might have put the game beyond them.

Three times Villa were granted the freedom of the left wing, Lee Bowyer offering no protection to the promising right-back Glen Johnson. First a run and cross by the impressive Gareth Barry laid on a goal for Oyvind Leonhardsen, who had been on the pitch barely a minute as replacement for the injured Mustapha Hadji. Vassell then dribbled down the same flank to set up Leonhardsen and JLloyd Samuel, neither of whom could keep their shot sufficiently low.

Roeder's solution to the sudden crisis was to replace Bowyer, who could hardly complain, with Les Ferdinand as an extra attacker. An equaliser arrived almost immediately, Kanouté taking Joe Cole's astute pass and turning cleverly inside Steve Staunton before scoring from 10 yards.

Apart from the occasional counter-attack, West Ham were on top from then until the finish and should have gone on to win. Enckelman, the fall guy in two high-profile derbies with Birmingham earlier in the season, denied them twice in 60 seconds with dazzling one-handed saves from Johnson and Kanouté. A minute more and Ferdinand, on the penalty spot, hit Lomas's square pass carelessly high.

Defoe was equally wasteful two minutes from the finish, then unlucky in stoppage time, wriggling through only to be foiled by Enckelman. How costly might that be? After Saturday we will have a better idea.

West Ham United 2
Sinclair 15, Kanouté 65

Aston Villa 2
Vassell pen 36, Leonhardsen 53

Half-time: 1-1 Attendance: 35,029