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Ashton saves the day for Hammers
IF Dean Ashton does leave West Ham for Manchester United this summer, then he certainly signed off in style.
There were just two minutes remaining when the striker lashed a rising 20-yard strike past Scott Carson's despairing dive, a perfect example of why Sir Alex Ferguson is such a big fan of the £7.25million hitman.
It would surely take a much higher figure to see Ashton head for Old Trafford, but the big forward clearly has the ability to perform at the very highest level
The 24-year-old's goal was a fitting end to a rip-roaring final-day encounter at Upton Park.
Aston Villa, who missed out on a place in next season's UEFA Cup after Everton overcame Newcastle United at Goodison Park, played a full part in a superbly entertaining game.
But it was Ashton, who has twice been cruelly denied an England debut by injury, who had the final say, turning inside the penalty area before firing an unstoppable drive past Carson to secure a top-10 finish for the second time in three seasons.
With both sets of players clearly looking forward to their summer holidays, it appeared they had made a collective agreement to serve up a footballing fiesta.
West Ham were full of purpose, taking an early lead through a delicious Nobby Solano free-kick.
Villa, meanwhile, showed exactly why they went into the game in sixth-place by producing a display full of pace and verve.
Having been so royally entertained, the only thing the majority of the 35,000 fans crammed into a sun-baked Upton Park had to complain about was the result, but even that did not matter following Tottenham's home defeat to Liverpool.
But back to the action - and there was plenty of it.
The Irons' opener arrived when Bobby Zamora was felled by Wilfred Bouma and Solano, whose contract runs out this summer and is unlikely to be renewed, curled a delicious free-kick past an eight-man Villa wall and into the net via Scott Carson's left palm.
However, rather than build on their lead, the hosts allowed Villa back into the match and the Midlanders took full advantage just six minutes later.
Ashley Young, a Hammers transfer target 18 months ago prior to his £9.5million move from Watford, had already gone close, side-footing Gabriel Agbonlahor's third-minute cross against the outside of Robert Green's right-hand post, before getting his name on the scoresheet.
The England man, named in the PFA Premier League team of the year, was given far too much space inside the home penalty area to roll boo-boy target Nigel Reo-Coker's pinpoint through ball past Green.
Both sides spent the remaining 75 minutes going all-out for a winner.
Before half-time Bobby Zamora, twice, Mark Noble, Solano and Luis Boa Morte - who finally won over the home crowd with a series of crunching tackles on former Irons captain Reo-Coker - all went close for the home side, while Agbonlahor and John Carew did likewise for the visitors.
In anything, the excitement levels rose still further after the break.
For West Ham, Boa Morte and Ashton went close before Zamora's header hit the crossbar.
At the other end, Green brilliantly denied Carew before Liverpool target Gareth Barry put Villa in front, converting after Reo-Coker's shot had been parried by the Irons goalkeeper.
The final 30 minutes was thrill-a-minute stuff, with Young and Olof Mellberg, playing his last game for Villa, both going close to making the points safe before Ashton's dramatic late intervention.
l ROBERT Green was named Hammer of the Year before the game, with fellow ever-present George McCartney runner-up.
Basildon teenager James Tomkins received the Bobby Moore Young Hammer of the Year award, while Jack Collison was Most Improved Player of the Year.
8:40pm Sunday 11th May 2008
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