Craig Bellamy gave the Hammers an early advantage and Matthew Etherington scored two breakaway efforts in the second half to wrap up the points.

Reading were denied even a consolation goal by goalkeeper Robert Green's penalty save from Kevin Doyle but Coppell admitted his side had been far too cavalier when going forward as West Ham had scorned a handful of other chances on the break.

He said: "It's the first time since I have been here when I have been frightened when we attacked. It was naive to say the least. Every time we got forward in numbers they hit us on the break.

"We spoke about it at half-time but in the second half it was doubly so. Of their three goals two of them came from our corners and the first was the result of scavenging off a loose ball in midfield.

"With the international break coming up we have to do a lot of thinking to redirect what we are about.

"I'm all for attacking football and I tell players to commit forward but we had no structure. The number of times they broke, particularly down the left side, really hurt us. They could easily have scored a couple more.

"First and foremost we have a lot of soul-searching to do and then evaluate. One result has seen us hitting the alarm bells I must admit. We have a lot to do before our next game."

West Ham had been beaten 6-0 in the corresponding fixture last season but manager Alan Curbishley insisted there had been little desire for revenge.

Instead, he had been pleased his players had been so dominant with so many first-choices out injured, with Kieron Dyer the latest to be sidelined after suffering a broken leg in midweek.

He said: "We never spoke too much about last year. I'm delighted for the boys who have come in because we have been hit by injuries again and some of them stepped up to the plate today.

"We have a few injuries at the moment and it has tested us but we put on a decent display. This was an important result because if we hadn't got anything we would have been in the bottom reaches. Now we find ourselves in the top half."

Dean Ashton made his first start for more than a year and lasted 65 minutes.

Curbishley said: "I have said all along we have been managing him so we are delighted he had 65-odd minutes. Now he has got to push on."