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Tevez makes debut as West Ham draw

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LONDON, England -- Argentine Carlos Tevez made his eagerly awaited debut for West Ham when he came on as a 61st minute substitute in a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.

Tevez, 22, who signed along with compatriot Javier Mascherano just before the close of the transfer window on August 31, did not have a huge impact on a match which both sides came close to winning.

Mascherano did not come off the bench to play in an evenly-fought match that Hammers manager Alan Pardew was pleased to get out of the way.

"I'm relieved to have got a point and glad the circus surrounding their transfer is over," said Pardew.

"I thought technically Villa were a very well organised team, technically today they were better than us."

Asked about Tevez's contribution, Pardew said: "I just knew we were starting to dominate the play and he's the type of player that can just conjure something up of course. He just needs to work hard to get up to speed, he's an immense talent.

"It was a shame I could not bring Mascherano on because he looks particularly good at the minute. I think they are both going to be a big success for us."

Tevez was upstaged on the day by another debutant -- Aston Villa's Bulgarian defender Stilian Petrov who almost won the match for Villa in the second half with a lobbed shot that was cleared off the line.

He was named man of the match and earned the praise of Villa manager Martin O'Neill. "In terms of the number of chances I think we did enough to win. West Ham played very well, but overall I'm really pleased with how we played," O'Neill said.

Villa took the lead in the fourth minute at Upton Park through defender Liam Ridgewell who prodded the ball over the line after the West Ham defence failed to clear.

West Ham equalised after 51 minutes when a header from Paul Konchesky took a deflection off team mate Bobby Zamora's thigh and flew into the net past goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson.

Villa, who remain unbeaten after four matches, stay in fifth place in the table, while West Ham lie eighth.


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Tevez made his debut for West Ham, but could not help his side beat Aston Villa.

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