West Ham 1 Tottenham 2

Carlton Cole proved to be hero and villain, scoring a brilliant 49th minute goal only to gift West Ham old boy Jermain Defoe an equaliser five minutes later.

And Aaron Lennon broke West Ham hearts when he snatched the winner on 79 minutes after a slip by left-back Jonathan Spector gave him a clear scoring opportunity.

On a sweltering afternoon in East London - more suited to enjoying Ashes cricket than the Premier League - a slightly less than full house gathered to watch this early season encounter between two good footballing sides.

West Ham made two enforced changes from the team that enjoyed an opening day win at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Kieron Dyer, reported to have a slight thigh strain was replaced by Junior Stanislas, while broken jaw victim Herita Ilunga was replaced by Spector

James Collins, who turned down a move to Stoke City in midweek, continued his partnership with Matthew Upson at centre-back.

Spurs, who boasted around £50million of talent on their bench - which included Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko - slighlty shaded a competitive first half, creating the more clear cut opportunities.

Sebastien Bassong, who scored on his debut against Liverpool last week, wasted probably the best chance when he stabbed a shot from six yards wide of the upright with Robert Green's net inviting a goal in the 30th minute.

A minute later Ledley King saw his header from a Luka Modric free-kick bounce back off the bar and scrambled away.

West Ham were for the most part limited to long range efforts from Scott Parker, Cole and Jiminez, with only Parker's shot forcing Carlo Cudicini to make a save.

Modric, allowed too much space and time by the Hammers, was running the show by the close of the half, and forced a good save from Green after Mark Noble gifted him the ball 18 yards out.

West Ham's best chance of the half arrived just before the break. Collins hit a lovely 50 yard crossfield pass to Junior Stanislas and the young winger skinned Corluka before whipping the ball across the goal, only for Cole to arrive just seconds too late to connect. Had he done so he would surely have scored.

The chance seemed to galvanise the Irons and they enjoyed their best spell of possession either side of the break, roared on by a stoked up home crowd.

Cole, who impressed all afternoon with his whole-hearted effort, finally broke the deadlock with a goal of quite outstanding quality.

The England man picked the ball up with his back to goal, turned and hit a coruscating left foot drive past the helpless Cudicini from the edge of the box.

Cue pandemonium in the Boleyn as the crowd and home players celebrated wildly but the emotion of the moment seemed to distract Cole and he paid for it on 54 minutes when he collected the ball close to the halfway line, only to hit a backpass straight into the path of Defoe lurking on the edge of the Hammers' box.

The diminutive striker, in such good form already this season, made no mistake as he buried the ball past Green.

Defoe, booed all afternoon by the Irons crowd could scarcely conceal his delight.

With the scores level the match evolved into a fascinating contest as both sides attacked with pace and flair.

Luis Jiminez brought a fine save from Cudicini as he powered a towering header from a corner towards the bottom corner, only to see the ball turned round the post.

Cole then hit a left foot shot across goal and just wide as West Ham sensed they might regain the lead.

Both sides were guilty of some terrible gamesmanship - a legacy of too many ill-tempered encounters in the past - wtih Defoe and Collison both guilty of trying to con the referee into awarding penalties.

Perhaps Mr Clattenburg had this in mind when he turned down West Ham's appeals for a spot kick when Assou-Ekotto appeared to bring down Jiminez just inside the box. But the referee had it right as a second look proved the Chilean fell over without the Tottenham player's assistance.

Just as West Ham were building up a head of steam and gaining the upper hand Spurs scored.

Lennon, a handful for Spector all afternoon, bamboozled the American into making a mistake, presenting him with a shooting opportunity from the edge of the box. The winger did not need a second invitation and buried his cross-shot into the far corner of the net.

The Irons had 10 minutes to find an equaliser but found it hard to fashion any worthwhile chances as Spurs, well drilled by boss Harry Redknapp, closed ranks.

Collison had perhaps the best opportunity as he latched onto a through ball in the 88th minute, only to poke a weak shot straight at the keeper.

The game was marred in added time as Defoe got into an unseemly spat with Julien Faubert, with the Frenchman harshly booked.

Gianfranco Zola was phlegmatic about the defeat.

He said: "I think a draw would have been the correct result. There was a moment I was thinking the game was over because until we scored we looked in control of the game, so I thought we were going to win.

"But that's football, you know. Especially when you play high levels. One mistake can be very, very costly."

Zola now has to pick up his players for Tuesday night's Carling Cup clash with Millwall, another game where the pressure to win will really be on.

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Spector, Upson, Collins, Parker (Hines, 85), Noble, Jiminez (Kovac, 78), Collison (Nouble, 90), Cole, Stanislas. Unused subs: Kurucz, Gabbidon, Tomkins, Payne.

Booked: Jiminez, Faubert.

Goals: Cole, 49.

Tottenham Hotspur: Cudicini, Corluka, Palacios, Bassong, King, Assou-Ekotto, Huddlestone, Lennon, Defoe (Naughton, 94), Keane (Crouch, 79), Modric (O'Hara, 86). Unused subs: Button, Hutton, Bentley, Pavlyuchenko.

Booked: Huddlestone.

Goals: Defoe, 54, Lennon, 79.

Attendance: 33,095

Referee: Mark Clattenburg.