ASTON Villa survived a second-half battering from Second Division West Ham to cling on to their Littlewoods Cup hopes in a rough and tumble third round encounter here last night Villa were restricted to only a handful of attacking opportunities by a determined scheming London outfit who might have embarrassed Graham Taylor’s side had they had a reliable marksman of their own.

Instead poor finishing and some determined often desperate defending helped Villa to a draw though they now face a daunting task in the replay on November 8 at Upton Park.

Villa’s defence looked uncertain early on when Julian Dicks scythed through before sending a feeble shot wide of Nigel Spink’s left upright then Alvin Martin rose above static defence forcing Spink into a diving stop.

Villa managed to gather their composure and posed a few problems of their own though Ian Olney stubbed his toe with the goal at his mercy then Tony Daley was cynically kneecapped by Gary Strooder when in the clear.

But such moments were few and far between leaving Villa to concentrate on containing an industrious and quick thinking Second Division outfit.

Their frustration showed when Graham Taylor replaced a subdued Paul Birch with Ian Ormondroyd after only 34 minutes to howls of derision from the Holte End.

Villa began the second-half apparently in a more positive frame of mind and when David Platt was hauled down on the edge of the area Kevin Gage unleashed a fierce dipping drive that veteran keeper Phil Parkes did well to cling on to.

West Ham though continued to play the more thoughtful patient football with Liam Brady at the helm and when the Irish international found himself in space it needed a last ditch tackle from Derek Mountfield to rob Eamonn Dolan in front of goal.