Slaven Bilic believes West Ham should have been awarded a penalty at Aston Villa

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic felt his side should have been awarded a penalty in their Boxing Day draw with Aston Villa.

The Hammers took the lead at Villa Park thanks to Aaron Cresswell's strike in first half stoppage time before Villa hit back through Jordan Ayew, who converted a penalty after Angelo Ogbonna was adjudged to have fouled Rudy Gestede.

Ayew rescues point for Villa

Aston Villa came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with West Ham on Boxing Day.

The visitors then saw two penalty claims waved away by referee Mike Dean, as both Leandro Bacuna and Ashley Westwood escaped punishment for handling the ball in the area.

"We had two appeals for handballs and, for me, if the referee gave them that penalty, he should have given us at least one, but he didn't," Bilic told Sky Sports.

The Croatian questioned Dean's awarding of Aston Villa's penalty, adding: "In my opinion, Ogbonna was in front of Gestede and the only reason Gestede was able to get in front of Ogbonna was to because he pulled his shirt.

"For me it was a foul, the referee gave a penalty. We can't change it, we have to move on, that's it."

The result at Villa Park was West Ham's fifth consecutive draw, although Cresswell''s strike, his first since April, ensured the Hammers avoided becoming the fourth team to play out four straight goalless draws.

And Bilic had no qualms with the final result, praising his side for their resilient display as the club continues to deal with a severe injury crisis.

"It was a fair result; it was a good English game, very direct," he added.

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"We are not totally happy because we were winning at half-time and we were expecting not only to hold on but to resist their attacks and then have space to hurt them and score a second one which would have probably killed the game off.

"Unfortunately we weren't able to score and after the break they were awarded a penalty. After 1-1 it could have gone either way so with all those things, and when you consider all of the injuries before the game and during the game, it's a good point for us.

The guys are battling, the guys are fighting. We are not playing the way we played before and we are not playing the way we would like but we are showing that character and we are picking up points and not losing games.

"Hopefully a few players will be back soon and it's very important to go through this period but not losing games at least."