West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa

Paolo di Canio saved West Ham a second successive defeat by Villa, after the teams' Worthington Cup saga was finally won by the Midlanders on Tuesday.

Villa's first half goal was scored by Ian Taylor, who also found the net three times in the two cup matches.

Di Canio hooked in with 12 minutes remaining after Villa keeper David James had dropped a cross.

It gave the Italian revenge for James' penalty save on Tuesday night when the Villa keeper accused the Italian of deliberately playing for the spot kick.

Di Canio wanted to continue his argument with the Villa man after the final whistle and was dragged away by team-mates.

Frank Lampard, who opened the scoring on Tuesday, had the first chance in this game, but his fourth minute header went wide

At the other end Shaka Hislop rushed from his line to thwart the pacy Julian Joachim before comfortably saving Paul Merson's long-range strike.

The Hammers were shading possession without creating a great deal, and Villa moved in front in the 24th minute.

Benito Carbone crossed from the right and Taylor nipped in front of the West Ham defence to poke the ball past Hislop for his sixth goal in six games.

Joe Cole flashed a warning past David James' right-hand post as the home side tried to respond.

Meanwhile Di Canio looked close to unleashing his fiery temper throughout the game.

He was particularly angry when strike partner Paulo Wanchope somehow prevented him latching on to the end of one of West Ham's better moves.

The Costa Rican then missed an open goal after Cole's run and cross found him just two yards out.

West Ham began the second half with greater purpose, with Gareth Southgate denying Wanchope when he raced back to tackle after Cole had released the striker.

But when Wanchope thought he had won a penalty in a goalmouth tussle he found referee Graham Poll had penalised him for handball.

James may have saved a penalty on Tuesday, but he was also culpable for West Ham's only goal in the cup rematch.

In this match Villa defenders had already cleared a couple of dropped crosses when James fumbled Steve Lomas's 78th-minute cross from the right.

This time it dropped neatly for Di Canio who hooked the bouncing ball into the net.

The Villa goalkeeper partly made up for it by saving a Marc Keller shot six minutes from time, while Wanchope hit the bar with a close-range header.

But Taylor also had a late chance to win it for the visitors, but for once Hislop stopped the free-scoring midfielder piling on yet more agony at Upton Park.

Teams:

West Ham: Hislop, Margas, Stimac, Ferdinand, Sinclair, Lomas, Lampard, Cole, Keller, Wanchope, Di Canio. Subs: Forrest, Minto, Carrick, Charles, Ruddock.

Aston Villa: James, Ehiogu, Southgate, Barry, Stone, Taylor, Merson, Boateng, Wright, Carbone, Joachim. Subs: Cutler, Thompson, Vassell, Delaney, Calderwood.

Referee: G Poll (Tring)