Luis Boa Morte's opener was wiped out by Shaun Wright-Phillips, as both sides settled for an end-of-season point.
In what could prove to be his last game in charge of the Hammers, Gianfranco Zola made a trio of switches from the side that had lost at Fulham last Sunday.
Tellingly, Boa Morte returned for his first game of the season alongside Fabio Daprela and Alessandro Diamanti replaced the injured Mark Noble while Valon Behrami came in for Jonathan Spector who dropped to the bench.
Portuguese winger Boa Morte could not have made a more emphatic return. He cleverly clipped an angled ten-yarder over the advancing Marton Fulop after the dancing Diamanti had outfoxed Kolo Toure with a sublime, 17th-minute back-heel into the area.
With the West Ham fans among the crowd of 34,989 sharing the bare-chested Boa Morte's delight, referee Howard Webb's mandatory yellow card for the shirtless celebration looked a small price to pay for the West Ham wide boy who tore knee ligaments during the Hammers' pre-season tour of China.
City, who had seen their Champions League dreams evaporate at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening, made four changes as Sylvinho, Patrick Vieira, Roque Santa Cruz and Shaun Wright-Phillips replaced Wayne Bridge, Gareth Barry (ankle), ex-Hammer Craig Bellamy and substitute Carlos Tevez.
But having fallen behind to the lowly Hammers, the visitors then took just four minutes to pull themselves level, when the returning, pint-sized Wright-Phillips outjumped Julien Faubert at the far post to head home Adam Johnson's teasing touchline cross.
Made in England, that equaliser would have impressed the onlooking Franco Baldini and Ray Clemence as they ran the rule over a selection of World Cup candidates.
After Diamanti had struck the base of Fulop's right-hand post, those Fabio Capello scouts were reaching for their notepads again, when Robert Green reassuringly thwarted Emmanuel Adebayor from point-blank range, to keep it all-square at the break.
Just after the restart, Carlton Cole nodded Faubert's hanging cross wide of the angle, while the red-faced Daimanti's acrobatic effort went horribly wrong and Ilan saw Fulop deny him with an outstretched ankle.
Midway through the half, Cole and the tiring Boa Morte were replaced by Guillermo Franco and Junior Stanislas before City made a double substitution of their own as Sylvinho and Santa Cruz were replaced by Micah Richards and Tevez, whose arrival was predictably met with the biggest cheer of the afternoon from the home fans.
And the Argentinian, who will forever be revered in the East End for controversially saving the Hammers from relegation three seasons ago, quickly deposited the ball onto the roof of Green's net while, at the other end, Franco forced Fulop into a flying, full-length save, that confirmed fifth spot for City and 17th place for West Ham.