Sam Allardyce's men are now unbeaten in 11 matches, but had endured frustrating times of late, with five straight scoreless stalemates.

However, goals to Ricardo Vaz Te and Gary O'Neil in the 12 minutes after half-time at London Road Stadium moved West Ham within one point of second-placed Reading.

Elsewhere, Portsmouth recorded a morale-boosting 2-0 win over promotion hopefuls Hull City at Fratton Park.

Goals to Christopher Maguire and Joel Ward four minutes apart in the opening half helped Portsmouth move off bottom spot on the table, and go within three points of relegation safety.

The loss leaves Hull two points outside the promotion playoff places.

Doncaster Rovers fought back to salvage a point in their 1-1 draw away to Crystal Palace, but it did not stop them from dropping to last place on the table.

Jermaine Easter put the hosts at Selhurst Park ahead on 57 minutes, before Chris Brown equalised for Rovers 19 minutes later.

Rovers are now four points from safety.

Middlesbrough missed the chance to move into fourth after they were held 1-1 away to Ipswich Town.

Tony Mowbray's men led on 63 minutes when substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz netted, before Ipswich's Grant Leadbitter equalised shortly after.

Nottingham Forest earned a valuable away point in their relegation battle when they held Leicester City to a 0-0 draw at King Power Stadium, which helped Steve Cotterill's men move five points clear of the drop.