Reading 0-3 West Ham

Alan Curbishley attempted to play down talk of revenge following West Ham's 6-0 defeat here last season.

But the elation that followed his side's emphatic victory made a complete mockery of those claims.

Curbishley was punching the air in delight and chairman Eggert Magnusson nearly fell out the director's box as he over-elaborated his celebrations.

Goals from Craig Bellamy and a second-half brace from Matthew Etherington saw the Hammers cruise to victory.

Curbishley said: "To be honest we didn't speak about last year's 6-0 defeat. It goes without saying that we came here knowing we needed to defend properly.

"After we opened the scoring I was getting more and more frustrated because we needed to finish the game off. But once Matthew Etherington got the second it enabled me to relax a bit more.

"We have been hit by a series of untimely injuries but the players have stepped up to the plate."

Reading are starting to bear the hallmarks of a side suffering second-season syndrome as they crashed to their second successive 3-0 defeat.

"We have a lot of soul searching to do," admitted boss Steve Coppell.

"It is the first time since I've been here that I was frightened every time we attacked. It was naive to say the least. Every time we went forward they hit us on the break."

While untimely injuries had decimated Curbishley's squad the match saw the return of Dean Ashton, making his first start since May 2006.

Reading certainly made most of the running in the opening minutes but were left completely shell shocked when the visitors broke and opened the scoring just six minutes in.

Lee Bowyer powered forward and sent a pass into the path of Bellamy, who finished from an acute angle.

While the home side look adventurous going forward they looked increasingly vulnerable at the back.

Another breakaway attack by the Hammers should have seen them go 2-0 up, but Mark Noble's finish was woeful.

Sustained Reading pressure failed to really threaten Robert Green's goal. Strikers Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita were persistent, but largely ineffective.

Bellamy's pace was a constant threat and Marcus Hahnemann denied the striker twice in the closing stages of the half.

Needless to say it was Reading who were cursing their luck two minutes from the break when Stephen Hunt crashed a shot against the crossbar.

But lightning was to strike twice at the start of the second half. Reading pressed early on and then four minutes after the interval found themselves 2-0 down.

A swift raid down the left saw Hayden Mullins play the ball into Etherington who played a neat one-two with Bellamy before firing into the roof of the net.

They should have scored a third in the 63rd minute but after Bellamy put Bowyer in on goal he shot wide.

And Etherington didn't fair much better in the 69th minute when he strode into the penalty area completely unchallenged and casually fired the ball wide.

Sadly for the home side, Lita got in on the act 17 minutes from time when he miss-hit his shot six yards from goal.

Yet they were given a lifeline in the 76th minute when Green brought down sub David Kitson and referee Howard Webb immediately pointed to the spot.

But Green dived low to his left and saved Doyle's poorly-taken spot kick.

Etherington raced onto Carlton Cole's pass four minutes into injury-time and added a third.

READING
Hahnemann 7, Murty 7, Shorey 7, Gunnarsson 7 (Cisse 6), Lita 6, Doyle 6, Hunt 6, Harper 6, Ingimarsson 6, Fae 6 (Kitson 6), Duberry 6.
Manager Coppell 6

WEST HAM
Green 7, Neill 7, McCartney 7, Ferdinand 6, Upson 7, Ashton 6 (Cole 5), Bellamy 8 (Boa Morte 5), ETHERINGTON 9, Noble 7, Mullins 6, Bowyer 7 (Spector 6).
Manager Curbishley 6

Referee H Webb 5

HEAD TO HEAD
Leroy Lita v Craig Bellamy
While Lita struggled to have any impact on the game Bellamy was inspirational as he scored early on and created havoc in and around the Reading penalty area.

MAN OF THE MATCH
MATTHEW ETHERINGTON
Dictated play from midfield and put in a performance full of confidence capped off by two clinical finishes to secure the points.

DID YOU KNOW?
Nine months is a long time in football. On New Year's Day 2007 Reading beat the Hammers 6-0 at the Madejski Stadium and the only unused outfield substitute for West Ham was one Carlos Tevez.