*Zamora sets up revival to expose Villa riddle*

On paper the West Ham team that returned to the Premiership this season looked a shadow of the side relegated in 2003. Football, however, is as much about attitude as aptitude and, whereas the earlier team clearly felt it was too good to go down, Alan Pardew’s players know that with each game they have to prove they are good enough to stay up.

Pardew has established a strength of will in his West Ham side which continues to buck the odds and on Saturday enabled them to end a losing run in the league by coming from behind to complete a season’s double over Aston Villa. Whereas in the first half Villa were the superior team and deserved their 1-0 lead, in the second they were overwhelmed by the power and athleticism that brought West Ham a 4-0 win against David O’Leary’s side in September.

West Ham came to Villa Park burdened by three successive league defeats and only two victories in nine matches. Aston Villa, on the other hand, were looking perky, beaten only once in nine games and edging towards the top half of the table.

An early injury to Eirik Bakke brought on Lee Hendrie, who added further touches of craftsmanship to Villa’s play and put them in front just before the half-hour with a backheader from Jlloyd Samuel’s centre. Had Milan Baros achieved more power with his shots at the start the contest would have been all but over at that point.

Instead West Ham emerged for the second half a team transformed. Purpose had replaced perspiration, puff had given way to pace, the passing was precise and the attack now had a serious presence near goal. Within six minutes Bobby Zamora had forced his way past the defence to meet Paul Konchesky’s free-kick and bring the scores level with a powerful header. Then on the hour Danny Gabbidon rose well to nod down a corner, Hayden Mullins’s shot was handled by Mark Delaney and Marlon Harewood’s penalty proved the winner.

Had Roy Carroll not clawed down a sharp header from Hendrie immediately after Zamora’s goal Villa might have enjoyed a more rewarding afternoon. But once West Ham had gone ahead the only remaining doubt concerned the number of teacups Pardew had needed to hurl across the dressing room at half-time to get them going.

Not that Pardew comes across that way. “We were disappointed at half-time because the quality had not been there,” he said, “and we had not been sticking to our game plan. I wasn’t feeling too clever myself, so I couldn’t really shout at them. But I made the point that we had not been good enough. We moved up a gear for 20 minutes in the second half and we are hard to deal with when we play like that.”

O’Leary agreed. “We were outbattled all over the pitch in the second half and couldn’t cope with it,” he said. “We were outmuscled and we were not able to defend set plays. We are not the sort of side who can just turn up and think we can turn it on at will. We have to be 100% all the time.”

Only 100%? Aston Villa won the championship in 1981 with the 110% effort demanded by Ron Saunders and went on to win the European Cup the following season after Saunders had left to manage Birmingham City. Now they are lolloping along with nothing more ambitious in mind than continued membership of the Premiership and pot luck in the cups.

Their football is fitful - fluent one minute, faltering the next. The match ball here was sponsored by Rameses Associates Ltd, appropriate given the ongoing Sphinx-like riddle of Villa’s form.