West Ham United have taken a 2-0 lead against Reading at half time in their Premier League game at Upton Park.

© Clive Gee / PA Photos

The first chance of the contest fell to the Royals in the seventh minute when Hal Robson-Kanu released Chris Gunter to float in a cross from the right that Jobi McAnuff headed over the bar.

Reading had another chance to surge ahead just two minutes later but Jussi Jaaskelainen kept out Pavel Pogrebnyak's close-range header.

The Royals continued to press on and tested the West Ham defence again on 16 minutes, Danny Guthrie firing just wide from 25 yards.

Then much against the run of play West Ham took the lead, Kevin Nolan making the most of a mistake from Alex McCarthy to collect a loose ball and slot home.

Nolan came close to doubling his side's advantage minutes later, but this time McCarthy made a good save in tipping his header over the crossbar.

Sam Allardyce's side eventually scored their second goal of the afternoon on 34 minutes when Ricardo Vaz Te finished well after collecting an Andy Carroll knock-down.